Tragedy
by Rachbal
Summary: The War is won, Levana is gone, everyone is happy! Or are they? Cinder learns that though she is victorious, it is a hollow victory. Nominally rewarded but imprisoned in a thankless job, what will she do to obtain her Holy Grail, FREEDOM!
1. Chapter 1

**Warning!**

This is a tragic ending to Cinder's story, where although she may have won in a nominal fashion she receives none of the rewards that matter to her. You have been warned, so do not write critical reviews because you are surprised, write them because my story is crap and you have license to mock!

**Tragedy**

**Chapter 1: Lamentations**

**Cinder...**

That was her name, the only name she had known for five years until her already hard life fell apart around her. Few called her that now, even though it was her name, who she was. Instead they addressed her as Her Majesty, Queen Selene of Luna. That wasn't her, that was she was supposed to be in another life, if she hadn't become a exile. A cyborg. A nobody. A cinder.

**Cinder...**

She had known the truth when she had seen what her aunt had done to her. It had been an image from years before, long before her memory began. In a hidden lab, among instruments designed to sustain life for the too far gone, she had seen what they had done to her. To her _for _themselves. That is what she had come to know in that moment, but refused to fully grasp until recently.

**Cinder...**

She had seen what remained of the child she had been. Scarred, limbless, broken, dying. So charred that she barely recognizable as human. No, not even human, inhuman. Lunar. Monster.

**Cinder...**

They had taken drastic measures to save her. First they had brought her to Earth, a nearly impossible task. They had put her in a suspended animation chamber, an illegal technology. Then they waited for her to grow, like fungus in a Petri dish, until she was strong enough, until there was enough of her.

**Cinder...**

Yes, like fungus, alive but unaware. There had been no childhood for her, there had barely been an infancy. She had slept for eight years. No, sleep was too light a word, the word was coma, all but brain dead. So brain dead that machines had to 'think' for her, stimulating what was left of her mind for the day she would awaken.

**Cinder...**

Finally she had been strong enough, big enough, for them to work on her. They had restored her lost limbs, but were not really her limbs. They were not flesh and blood, warm to the touch, but cold metal. Now she was even less 'human' than before, she had become a cyborg. That alone made her second class, tolerated only as long as she brought something to the table. Even that was better treatment than she would have received on Luna, there it was better to die than be so 'ugly.' Who could ever love something so hideous, so patched up that it was an outcast in both heaven and earth.

**Cinder...**

Even there they hadn't stopped. No, she must earn her keep, be worthy of the unasked effort save her life. She would be a guinea pig. The test subject for a dangerous procedure to implant a revolutionary technology, a defense against lunar glamour, in her spine. It could have killed her or left her paralyzed, but that was a risk they had to take. If it could work on her it would work on every lunar, and turn the tide in a war that hadn't yet started.

**Cinder...**

The only thing they left untouched, was her reproductive system. Her uterus and ovaries were the closest she got to who she was meant to be, the closest she could get be 'human.' Not that anyone would be willingly to complete her, not unless you could find a guy turned on by wires and bolts. No, any offspring would be out of political necessity, a union without personal meaning, to safe guard someone else's future.

**Cinder...**

She could barely remember it, waking up. Clueless as to where she came from, what she could do, who she was meant to be. She had no idea that the odds were already stacked against her. It would be a hard life even if she didn't know it yet. All she had know at the time was that a new 'father' was taking her to her new 'family.'

**Cinder...**

Now she could understand him, why he had done it, she was no threat, not really. She was an outsider, few would get close enough to befriend her, inside and outside the family. He must have known the likely reaction his wife and daughters would have, bringing a cyborg home. Had his wife known at the time the girl was lunar, she probably would have fainted. Can you imagine the reaction if the girl's identity had been known?

Yes, with her powers nullified, she could neither attract the wrong attention or threaten his family's freedom. Powerless, she would have to depend on him, and he would be free to observe her and see how well his invention worked.

**Cinder...**

Except, even that half kindness would be denied her. Soon after they arrived 'home' her 'father' became ill with the lunar plague. Funny isn't? The girl he had help save and pacify, for the purpose of perpetuating his invention, had killed him without trying and by so doing almost caused his technology to be lost forever.

**Cinder...**

His death had been a near disaster for Earth and a certain disaster for her. His wife, depending on the riches the device would have brought, took her loss out on the cyborg girl, now her ward, her so called 'step-daughter.' Nothing would be hers now, she was a slave with no one to protect her. She did make some friends; Peony, the younger daughter with a heart of gold, and Iko, a defective android not worth the sum of her parts. Pathetic really, Peony liked to identify with the pitiful and Iko had no one else, they were stuck together.

**Cinder...**

Pathetic or not, they were all she had, and because of her Peony lost her life and Iko nearly so. Everyone she cared about, she would hurt. Not that that was anything special, tons of people she could care less about or didn't even know were hurt by her. It was because of what she was, the lost lunar princess. It's just that those she cared about are the ones that matter, at least to her. And what of him, the one she had cared most for, even he was hurt by her.

**Cinder...**

She hastened his hard decisions before he was ready, helping his enemy back him into a corner. First she was foolish enough to be seen at the rally, exposing the existence of fugitive lunars on Earth. Then she had thrown caution out the window in effort to attend the ball, and exposed her identity to the queen. Then she had given the queen the provocation to unleash her wild dogs with the great escape from prison. That last one almost proved to be Kai's death sentence, effectively giving the queen his life and kingdom. In all regards she was a plague.

**Cinder...**

Yes, a plague alright. Not hard considering her family, her people. After all, this mess was a long time in the making. A long dynasty of parasitic tyrants, ruling not by responsible popular consent, but by controlling everyone's mind with selfish desire. By what right did they rule, the right of a freak accident of nature. By a lucky role of the genetic dice, they could strip all but a few of their free will and did so without care. The rising tension and mistrust between Earth and Luna had been their fault. However the war had been Levana and Cinder's doing. Levana had staged it all, but Cinder had played her part.

**Cinder... **

Yes, she had played her part like a chess piece. No matter what she did, she remained someone else's pawn, their slave. That's why she is still alive. Had Levana been a little more amicable ruler and neighbor, would anyone really had done so much to save a charred corpse?

No, they didn't do it altruistically, they did it to save their own skins. She was to be their ultimate weapon, the one who could beat Levana at her own game. Once all was said and done, could she leave it all and live her life as she wanted? Would she be free?

No, she was too valuable a tool. A puppet queen. She was young, naive, physically broken; completely unprepared to rule. Better, she didn't even want to rule. She needed them to take care of her business, and they were only too happy to comply as long as she did as they said. Through her subjugation, all of Luna was pacified. They would never let her go as long as she was useful. She was not a person to them, only a thing with a convenient use. Things that lost their use, no matter how important, could be replace without a second thought if need be. As a former mechanic she had done her share of that.

**Cinder...**

How she longed to be human, to be loved as human, by humans. That was something she had never known. Not really. There had been Linh Garan, her adoptive father, with his kind smile. But if she had realized anything this past year, it was never love, only compassion at best. Like a scientist feeling sorry for a lab rat he is experimenting on.

Then there had been Peony, sweet Peony, she was lovely in every way. Could she had loved Cinder? She had been kind to Cinder and spoken against her mother's cruel treatment. She had wanted to join Cinder, running away from home, before she had died. Cinder swallowed hard to keep the guilt down. Perhaps she did, but Cinder would never know. What Cinder did know was that, Peony was like her father, compassionate, only with a streak of rebelliousness.

Then there was _Kai_, a boy she had met in such a casual and ordinary way. A boy who had shown some interest and 'asked her to the dance' so to speak. Could he have loved her? He seemed like the best candidate, crossing the social divide between them, even if he had thought that divide only included just her commoner status, maybe.

_**No**_, Cinder shook her head, that couldn't be it. She knew better than that. Kai's life was filled with the big problems that affected an entire planet, so it was a relief to spend some time with a mundane issue like flirting with a common girl as an ordinary boy. Except she wasn't common, and that was far worse.

She'd suspected for a while, that any real interest he was developing in her was due to her emerging gift. After all, it was after Dr. Erland had disabled the implants in her spine that Kai began to show interest beyond a client and his mechanic. An interest based on a double lie, the hidden cybernetics and lunar glamour.

**Cinder...**

Cinder had always tried, often unsuccessfully, to disguise her broken body. For five years all she had were clothes with which to do it. An imperfect solution. The gloves were the best example, they often caused suspicion as she wore them everywhere. But with them she had maintained that facade of normality, an average _human_ girl, more or less.

But she wasn't a normal human girl, though she pretended to be. She was cyborg, 36.28% machine, and she had seen Kai's reaction to her body, though he didn't know it was her. He had flinched! He was disgusted by so deformed a creature. _**That**_, she now recognized, _**was**__**when I really chose to hide my true nature from him, at least as much as I knew**_**.** And what she hadn't known only disgusted him further.

Oh how she remembered his words, '_**You're even more painful to look at than she is.' **_Full they were of hurt to her ears. Their entire relationship, the image she had crafted for him, had collapsed and he rejected her. He had thrown her to the wolves to save his kingdom. To his credit, he had done it ever so gently, but still he sold her out for peace. She deserved it though, founding everything about her on lies and putting him in the position. What was he to do?

_**But,**_ she asked herself, _**what if he had known the whole truth, who I really was? **_What if he had known she was the lost lunar heiress? Would he have protected her, even before Queen Levana? She let that stew in her head for what seemed an eternity, with a dozen voices all clamoring for her attention, each with its own point of view, its own side of the story. Finally, out of the chaos, she came to a conclusion. Yes, he would have protected her, but not in the way that mattered most to her.

Yes, he would have protected her because she could save his kingdom, even the world, from Levana. She was again a tool, more precisely a weapon, against the power mad Lunar Queen. That is why he would have saved her, if he'd known back then. After all, that is what happened eventually, when all the leaders of Earth had found out.

They had swooped in and protected her from Levana, shielding her with all their military might. She had at the beginning, if only for a fleeting moment, felt like they cared about what happened to her. Especially Kai, when she found out he championed her sanctuary from Luna. That illusion passed quickly, Kai never saw her, except over a port screen, and the rest of Earth's _noble_ leaders made it plain to her why they were taking such a risk saving her hide. She was an investment, and like an investment they expected a profitable return. She was to become their slave in exchange for her life and comfort. She had agreed.

Why, why had she done that? Couldn't she have seen that they would only use her? She, of course had seen that, but she had done it for him. Kai. If he could she how she was willing to sacrifice her freedom to save the Earth, perhaps he would see her the way she had always imagined, hoped he would. She had hoped that he would forgive her, seek her out, and they'd live happy together until the end of their days.

As expected, the war was fought. Painful sacrifices made, the Enemy vanquished, and she, Cinder had been crowned Queen Selene in all the mock glory of a puppet monarch. She reigned as she promised, seen but not heard, the head but not the brain. She had done everything required of her, should she not be happy?

She should, but _he_ never came and she was left with the aching cold of loneliness. She was surrounded by the trappings of power, in a palace built to surpass Versailles, and servants around the clock. Despite that, all they were just trappings. The spacious mirrors purposefully placed on every surface to weaken her, to show her true face to all. And the servants, all unfriendly, unfeeling androids placed to inform their true masters of her every action. They would never see her beyond the prosthetics, beyond her glamour. _**And neither would he.**_ She admitted to herself.

They had every reason not to see her as someone good. She had crossed this train of thought so often, but she couldn't escape it, for it flowed through her very veins and made her poison at conception. Her family from the beginning to the present earned no one's trust, they simply took it. She saw why. It was so easy to strip a person's will until nothing, but an obedient husk, remained.

When she had first witnessed it used, by Queen Levana at the protest, it had frightened her. Soon after she learned that it was only a matter of time before she would command it as well. She practically swore never to use glamour herself if she could help it. Then came her escape and she had used that power, lightly at first but with ever increasing frequency and force. Then she had taken a life with that power, exchanged an innocent for her own. The worst part was that she had acted on instinct, no conscious thought had passed through her mind until the deed was done.

Upon later reflection she had realized that it hadn't been the first time she'd seen it. Memory returned her to the ball, the gun tearing away from her temple to point at Levana's chest. The gun had gone off and the form of the queen's bodyguard intercepted the bullet. Levana, hadn't killed that man, but he might as well have been. The point was she had followed in Levana's footsteps without trying if not actively resisting. They were blood, and nothing, even being raised worlds apart in both the physical and social sense had changed that.

Ah yes, Aunt Levana. She remembered their first meeting so very well. Levana had mocked her name. "_**Cinder, how fitting, ashes, dirt, filth.**_" The comparison was not perfect, but cut too deeply too ignore. Then again, there was the old earthen saying, **'takes one to know one**.'

Cinder had seen Levana's real face, the one hidden behind the glamour. She was hideous, as deformed in her way as Cinder was in hers. Yes, Cinder was filth alright, but so was Levana. Both were poison, only Levana's was more concentrated, refined by years abusive use of glamour and scheming.

But how long before she fell in to the cycle of tyranny as her bloodline demanded. It was SO EASY! There were times she could just imagine some foul demon within pushing out with tentacles of insatiable need for sadistic pleasure. With the sufferings of others the only way to slake her desires, how long could she hold out? Was she forever trapped in the whims of others without even respect to her name?

In that hour of despair long ago, a new determination arose from within her. With a new purpose she shoved her pain into the furnace of her soul to fuel a new drive. Her life would mean more than being the puppet of others, a tool. She would use the demon within to execute a new plan to right the universe, one far more foolproof against the return of a lunar threat to Earth. She would not serve it, IT would serve HER!

Despite the array of precautions against her, they still underestimated her. She was not just the lunar queen or a cyborg, she was both and her potential was greater than the sum of her _parts, _so to speak. She did, with time, find the weaknesses in her cage and used them to her advantage. Now her plan neared completion, she could look forward to the peace that would follow. There would finally be an end to her cravings for domination.

Yes, and an end to the loneliness. She could stop watching _him _from afar, eyes green with envy for his new family. A truly beautiful wife, graceful, dutiful, and human to her core. Children, filled with energy and dreams, great futures unknown but always around the corner. A family of love and happiness, that had always been out of reach for her.

_**Yes**_, she thought in relief, _**soon it will end.**_ _**I will be free!**_

Then the beeping announcing a visitor wrested her from her fantasy. She hated that, not knowing when visitors were in the coming. It left her with hardly any time to prepare herself. Probably why her sponsors arranged it so, but she dared not protest lest they tighten their leash. And this time she couldn't complain, these visitors were expected at her request, though more than a little early. It would have been either that or be very late, and early was better.

Except these wasn't the ones who were expected, she realized as she recognized his bio-electric signature. This was not a good time for a face to face encounter, she was so close! Could she still go through with the plan if she saw him again, in person? Even after all that had happen to them since that fateful night, would she falter to the hope of a lost cause? Not a treat then, but a test of her strength and commitment. Nevertheless, she could cheat a little, or rather show him her true face as she saw it. She turned her rotational throne to face away from the door.

She knew without looking the androids closest to the doors reached the handles and pulled the reflective facade inward. From the opening would march two figures, one the chamberlain android, the other, the man she had dreamed of for so long.

"Announcing the arrival of his Majesty, Emperor Kai of the Eastern Commonwealth..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: One Night with The Emperor**

"...for an audience with her Majesty, Queen Selene of Luna!" The chamberlain android spoke in a voice that carried despite its regal reserve. It bowed as it finished and retreated to the side of the room, among the other androids. Kai took a look around and it unnerved him. The sight of mirrors on every surface made the room look enormous, his reflection everywhere he looked was confusing enough to give him a minor headache. It was the same with every room in the palace. How did Cinder cope?

He cursed his mental slip. She wasn't that pitiful mechanic in a shadowed booth he had met years ago. She was Queen Selene and he should respect that. In fact she deserved more than respect, that's why he had come to the Moon unaccompanied by the official entourage. He had been avoiding it for so long, but now he was taking what he hoped would be the first step in rectifying the wrongs between them.

He cleared his head by closing his eyes for a moment, then he opened them. And he saw the back of the throne. His heart sank, this was not a good omen. Did she not want to see him? He knew his visit was unexpected, he didn't think he could have made it to Luna without backing out if the whole world knew. Then there was her other visitors, if she would see them surly she would see him.

The silence continued into unbearable longevity. What should he do? Should he say something, or should she? The particulars of royal protocol escaped him at the moment, not that he gave a ...

"Welcome Emperor Kai," Cinder's, no Selene's (he reminded himself) voice rang with a sweetness so diluted that it was almost monotone. "I have not been expecting you. For what purpose may I account for your visit?" Though she sat facing away from him, the acoustics in the room made sure that he heard her perfectly. Now that she had opened up the conversation, he was not going to let die.

"I have business to discuss with you Queen Selene." He gave a questioning glance around at all the androids in the room. "Uh, could we speak in private? That is I mean, could your androids spare us a minute alone?"

"My _attendants_ are always present for the purpose of safety." She replied. "However, if _**you**_ wish for privacy, you merely have to give the order and they will leave." He nearly flinched at that remark, though he tried to prepare for it. She was telling him that she didn't have the authority to dismiss own her servants, but as a leader of Earth he did. She might as well have said _that although I rule in name, you rule in reality._

"Chamberlain," He turned to the android who led him in, at least he thought, they all looked the same. "Leave with the guards." The machines promptly bowed and filed out the room. Kai waited until they had closed the door behind them. He knew that they weren't the only monitoring devices, but without them his mind relaxed into an illusion of privacy. He hoped it would help both him and Selene talk more openly, comfortably. _**This is going to be hard enough without twenty pairs of extra eyes staring at me,**_ he thought.

The awkward silence returned. Then Selene once again broke it with her voice diluted sweetness.

"I believe congratulations are in order, your Majesty." He raised an eyebrow, not understanding to what she was referring. "Empress Sun-Hi must be quite ecstatic to be bless with a beautiful and healthy baby girl, as I'm sure are you. Did the gifts my _servants_ selected met with your approval?" The birth of his daughter? That was how she would begin this soul baring conversation, with an event that happened more than half a year ago?

Then he realized, _**she's rarely allowed to leave the palace, let alone the Moon. The most she usually get's in the way of social interaction with the greater world is through digital media and portscreen. **_Her _gifts_ would not have been of her choosing, unlike every other head of state that paid their respects to his daughter she was not to be trusted. The only thing that was hers was the signature on the digital card.

"Yes," he replied. "My wife is very happy with a daughter..."

"And your son, he is well I presume?" __With the second rapid inquiry of his family, his mind came to harrowing conclusion. _** She's lonely. More so than I thought.**_ He felt a stab of pain to his heart at that last remark. It was his fault after all.

There had been a time when he had felt something for her. She was an unpretentious and unassuming mechanic doing him a favor. Her mundane working life had seemed simple in comparison to his own. Every royal wishes for a simpler life from time to time, but he had wished for one every minute of every day during those weeks preceding the war. He had believed that his flirtation with the mechanic Linh Cinder had been merely an escape from the crushing weight of fate. That is until the ball.

That fateful night had happened in a blur. The ball was in full swing and he was trying to get through it without having to make the acquaintance of half of New Beijing. Then she had arrived, in a soaked dress and grease stained gloves no less. Just what the party needed, someone who dressed to please, but maintaining who they were.

They had danced, and as Kai looked back on it, rather clumsily. Then came the confrontation with Queen Levana and Cinder's story came to light so fast he didn't get it sorted until the next day. Lunar, Fugitive, Cyborg. An attempted execution turned into an attempted assassination, which then turned into a very exposing, failed escape. What he had seen at the bottom of the garden stairs had realized every accusation made by Levana.

More beautiful than the Lunar Queen, the creature he saw did not earn his pity despite her superior glamour. He had never trusted Levana, but he had trusted her. He had prepared himself so diligently at one end only to leave his rear exposed as an a friend showed him her true colors. He never knew how often or how much she had glamoured him, or for what purpose she befriended him. What mattered was that she made a fool out of him and it made him furious, but more it made him ashamed.

The humiliation of her deception had, in no small part, dictated his decisions and their relationship thereafter. First he had given her to Levana, as a peace offering. Then organized the largest manhunt in fifty years to capture her when she escaped. During those dark hours, he had reflected on what her presence had meant to him, feeling a spark of something more than friendship. Nevertheless, each time the mental dialog ended with the same funnel of betrayal that guided him against Cinder, a vow never to be so blind sighted again.

When Cinder's identity as the lost Lunar Heiress, came to light, he was the last Earthen Head of State to recognize her. He also was the last of them to have the experimental Bioelectrical Security System implanted in his spine. At every turn he had opposed her, though never really knowing why. In hindsight he understood, it was a double humiliation of a false belief in being wrong only to find out later that he had no grievance but had harm another. His vow had been broken.

Every action previously he took against the newly recognized Princess Selene grated his subconscious ego. He had always thought of himself one of the good guys. To find out that he had only been helping the enemy left him a renewed feeling of shame and horror so grand that he avoided it as much as he could. He avoided the pain by avoiding her.

Never did he see her face to face unless it was by portscreen during the collective conferences. In those conferences, she only spoke when to agree with the conditions for her future. Never did a word, private or public, pass between them through any media. When his senses had begun to cope with his crimes against Selene, he still did not contact her. For he feared what she would say, how harshly she would berate him for his persecution of her. The silence on her part was surely proof that she did not what anything to do with him.

The war had ended and a new age dawned over mankind, one without the menace of Luna scorching the sky. That is as long as Selene cooperated, and she did, surprising Kai and others with her passivity.

As the tense peace eased other duties clamored around Kai. He was a bachelor sovereign without heirs, marriage was now of paramount importance. The reasons extended to the fact that a royal wedding would act like a healing balm on his kingdom, improving the morale of a devastated people. They wanted a sign of a bright future and he had to give them one, by marrying.

The question was to who? Who would be the best choice of Empress? There were many choices to be had, both foreign and domestic. He remember night he had received the list of _honorable_ and _preferable _candidates, very few he recognized, let alone met. One he had met was that horrid Linh girl, Pearl, how he had shuddered at the thought that she was considered by some of his staff as empress material.

Then his thoughts turned his head to the east window and at the moon rising. A quick search through the thousands of names turned up negative. Queen Selene was not on the list. He didn't need to look up Linh Cinder, he remembered no such name near Linh Pearl. So she was not worthy to be the Empress of the Commonwealth, but her step-sister was. He thought quickly through the oddity of it all before arriving at the bitter conclusion.

Selene was the Lunar Queen, child of generations of evil dictators and niece of the greatest disaster Earth had faced in over a century. No matter what she had done to redeem herself, by leaving her off the list his advisors were telling him that the people would never accept her as their ruler. Then there was the fact that she was nearly half machine, a cyborg with frighteningly little _humanity_ left. **'I don't want no robot in charge of running the Empire'** was the quote that came to mind, he didn't remember exactly where it came from, probably a book he read. (Forward the Foundation)

Well what did the people know, and for that matter what did his advisors know?! He had seen her sacrifice herself, always in the right though no one recognized it. She knew more about poverty, abuse, prejudice, and slavery to fill a lifetime. She had all the experience and heart to be a good Queen, or Empress for that matter. Or so he thought and wasn't it what he thought that mattered most? If he wanted her for his bride then who were anyone to say no?!

The vigor of his stance of Selene's behalf first stunned then frightened him. His presumption to defy the will of his people for personal aims also shook him, he was a servant to his people, their wants, needs, and desires came first. And they did not want a half machine lunar on the throne, they didn't trust her, would he lose their trust also to defy them? Would he march out of his bedroom in nothing but his bathrobe, through the palace, and into the offices of his advisors to defiantly announce that he would disregard all propriety and boldly court the one eligible woman in his life that _everyone_ despised?

No he couldn't. He couldn't ignore the wishes of the Commonwealth. Besides, he wasn't ready to face her, too little time had passed to heal everything he had done to her.

**Could she even have children?** He had thought at the time. He never really paid enough attention to conferences when they discussed her future beyond puppet ruler that he could remember. Regarding her injuries and the extent of her cybernetic nature, he found it most doubtful, and a monarch must have heirs. Though he was proved wrong, even without that hitch, marriage to her hosted too many complications for his already complex life. He needed someone with a simple, untarnished past.

So with a little research he chose Ms. Chang Sun-Hi of Pusan. She was a safe bet, beautiful, relatively wealthy, accomplished, mild tempered, and most importantly popular. **Dull,** some phantom in his mind sniped. She had welcomed his attentions warmly and before the year was out they were married in splendor exceeding his coronation. Everything had gone to plan, but he was still unsatisfied.

Sometime after his nuptials, the council of Earthen leaders proposed to marry off Selene as well. They were determined for her to produce a replacement as soon as possible to be raised as a _guest_ in the courts of one of the Earthen nations. There had been several attempts to find a suitable consort for Selene, but it required the approval of every Earthen head of state. The only one who have rejected all candidates was Kai himself. Was he trying to protect her, or simply acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend? The improbability of have children with her had been an afterthought once he made his decision not to court her against the will of his people. Why did it sting him now?

"_Your Imperial Majesty..?" _ Selene cooed. Kai was snapped back to the present with a flash of shame. It hadn't been more than ten minutes and he was already stumbling over flashbacks. "_I asked you, how is your..."_

"Son!" Kai nearly yelled in trying to regain control. "My son, yes he is well. As well as a terrible two can be, I suppose. And you, Queen Selene, how are you?"

"I am... well." She replied after a moment's hesitation. "It is kind of you to ask, your Majesty. Now tell me what brings you to my court. Surely the Earthen council hasn't appointed _you_ as a secret liaison to checkup on me?" The comment would have been funny if it had been meant in jest, but the bitter element in her tone said otherwise. Kai recognized that she was closing up to him, he couldn't wait any longer and waste time on the pleasantries of conversation. If he did he would not have the courage to say what he came to say nor would she have the patience to listen.

"Selene I know you don't want me to be here, and you have every right to hate me for what I've done. I am here not as a conqueror or your jailer to humiliate you, but as a terrible friend coming to beg your forgiveness." He knelt down. "I have done you every possible harm, every time when you needed me I turned my back on you. Even when I knew better I still wronged you, I selfishly ignored your needs because I only thought of myself and my pride. But now I am willing to confess every crime and I promise that I will make it up to you." She made no response to his declaration. Another moment passed. He didn't know what her silence meant, but he feared she was ignoring him.

He looked at the mirrors to his right and saw three separate reflections of Selene of her throne from slightly different angles. Her eyes were closed and her face still, almost as if she was asleep but he could see her hands twisting the skirt of her gown. So he was reaching her but she had to face him if he was to have a chance at mending the rift between them.

"Selene... please, turn around, let me see your face." Her face remained stoic, but she opened her eyes and let go of her gown. She touched the control panel that rotated her throne around. The faint sound of the throne's motor was the only sound Kai heard in those seconds as the opulent cathedra rotated clockwise.

Kai flinched so hard that he lost his balance and fell to his left side. The visage that faced him was not the one he had seen in the mirrors. Gouged with bloody red spots, bright pink and glossy in others, her face was appalling. In a moment he realized the spots were the result of severe burns, the skin so warped and twisting that Kai could almost see the flames scorching it. There was no nose, only ragged holes that wheezed softly as Selene breathed. Swollen and disfigured, only the slits of her eyes could be seen, and the mouth! Lips had been melted off for the most part, leaving the mouth twisted open revealing teeth in a twisted sneer. In all it left Kai with the impression of a face of melted wax, prepared by a sick artist.

A sense of nausea far greater than could be had by the grotesque view made Kai want to retch. He didn't though, the Bioelectrical Security System kicked in and he felt relief as most of the weight in his stomach vanished. He focused returned to Selene, he still saw the fire ruin of her face, but now it had an unreal quality about it, like poorly applied make-up. Unreal as the glamour illusion was, it still was powerful, and the fact that Selene could overwhelm Kai's implant spoke volumes of her sheer power.

"Selene," Kai cried. "What are you doing?!" Selene had stood up and descended one step from her throne. Her metal leg and hand highly visible due to the design of the gown. Yet another layer of humiliation and control that he and the other Earthen leaders had chained her with, Kai realized.

"I am not SELENE!" She roared. "I am sick and tired of people calling me that! I am what remains of Selene. I am her cinder, the ash left from the funeral pyre of the Lunar Princess, the CINDER OF SELENE! Why do you think they gave me that name? A pun, a joke, moment of comical cleverness? They gave me that name to remind me where I came from, why they kept me alive. So use it!" Her face sprouted ethereal flames as the tone of her voice became louder and more enraged.

"Calm down!" Kai cried, stumbling to his feet under the onslaught of her anger. "Stop using your glamour to hide your real face..."

"This is my REAL FACE!" Cinder countered. "This is want your Selene looked like when Levana was done with her. I know, I saw the medical files. The illusion is what they did to me to make fit in. So I could pass for what I never could be, HUMAN! Not that it did me any good, they should have left me as I was, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble. You would never have asked me to your ball if I had looked like this, admit it!" Kai's heart fell, this conversation was going as badly as he could imagine.

"Your right," He said in a soft tone, humbly lowering his head. "I wouldn't have asked you if you looked like that. I would have taken Nansi, paid my fee, and gotten out as fast as I could." She descended another step.

"Why are you here?" Cinder asked, lowering her own voice in response to Kai's soft tones. Her burned, glamour induced face began to fade slowly.

"I came to say I'm sorry, Cinder." A tear tickled his cheek. "I can't change what I've done in the past, but I can help you now if you'll let me. I can and will make everything up to you." Cinder descended the final step.

"How?" She asked quietly." He brightened a little at this change.

"By standing by you at the Earthen Conferences. It will take awhile, but we can win your freedom." Cinder closed the distance between them slowly, until they stood only a foot apart. She looked into his eyes, the fire scars and ruined skin gone, leaving just the pretty face that he had first seen in that booth years ago, both searching and pleading for something.

"And in the mean time?" She asked. He examined her eyes, he could sense that she wanted him to say something but he didn't know what. She appeared so helpless, so lonely, he made up his mind what to say next.

"I know you're lonely Cinder. I have been the one to deprive you of companionship." He smiled as warmly as he could. "That I will change. I'll find you a good man, a man who will be better to you than I ever was, you deserve it. I promise, if there is such a man to had, I will find him and you will be happy with a family of your own." Even as he said those words, he knew it wasn't want she wanted to hear. Her eyes had fallen from his own to some imperceptible spot on his robe.

"You think that is want I want, Kai? To have some man, especially a good one, bound with me in this prison?" Her eyes looked back up into his. "You were the first, the only man I ever loved, if it had been you I could have done it. I waited for you for years, giving up everything that meant something to me just for the hope of you. I know what I wanted to hear you say, and I know that it was wrong of me to want to hear it, but I still, even now hoped..." She turned away and started back to the throne. Kai heart sank again to see her retreat like that. He reached out to grab her hand, but she shook him off. "Don't touch me!" She nearly growled.

"Cinder, if I offended you, I'm sorry..." He started but she, having taken the first step up to the throne, whirled at him.

"Sorry?" Her echo was not harsh, but nor was it calm. She looked at him tensely for a moment and then relaxed. "Yes, you are and that does make me feel better, but it isn't enough Kai. And marrying me off to some other guy won't fix anything either. It will only make it worse. Even if you could find a man willing to marry a lunar cyborg I, who has live this life, will not condemn an innocent man to share my fate. Nor would I allow any child I could bear to share it either. It is better never to have existed than to exist solely for the use of others. I alone will bear that burden." She half turned and ascended another step. Kai was stunned at the resolution of her declaration, and its implications for the future disturbed him.

"Cinder, you can't mean that." He protested as Cinder rose another step. "You have to produce an heir, there is no other way to continue the royal line. And you know that the rest of the Earthen council will not allow any other of the established bloodline to ascend the throne, they don't trust them..."

"And the people will refuse any Lunar the Earthen council would trust. I know Kai, I live here after all." She replied and made the final step to level with the throne and walked to it. Kai tried to continue his protest, but she cut him off. "Don't fret Kai, I have a plan to end the issues between Earth and Luna permanently."

"Don't tell me that you have somehow convinced the entire population to undergo the Bioelectric Security procedure?" He scoffed. "Is that why you summoned every Lunar to this _'Peace Festival'_ of yours, to glamour them! That is a stretch even for you."

"No, not even I could do that." She agreed. "Even if I could, it would take too long and do nothing about future generations until they themselves were _fixed_ as well. My solution is far simpler, are you familiar with the myth of the Gordian Knot?"

"I'm afraid I don't recall that one." Was Kai's somber reply.

"The Gordian Knot, as the myth goes, was a knot in an ancient Greek city and it was foretold that the one who could untangle it would be king of the land. However it was a knot so twisted that no one could untangle it. Until, that is, Alexander the Great came, and with one sword stroke cut the knot in half thereby untangling it. Instead of attempting the impossible task of working out a complex and flawed system to maintain peace between our worlds I decided to use outside the box thinking like Alexander. As I see it if there are two peoples that can't seem to get along, just remove one population from the equation and everything sorts out." She sat on the throne and faced him casually, the angry burn scars returning full force. Kai didn't like the look, she seemed to detach herself from her surroundings. She seemed to look past him.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean 'remove one population from the equation?!'" He demanded quickly.

"I mean to destroy, wipe out, or exterminate the source of my troubles." Cinder replied coolly. " I will end Earth's problems with Luna by destroying it. I can no longer passively sit by doing nothing but take orders, not when my Lunar blood demands I do more, that I take charge of my destiny." Kai's blood chilled. His mind raced with what was happening. She made it clear she was planning something, but what? How was he to find out?

"What are you going to do?" Kai asked before he could stop the urge. Cinder's unreal burn scarred face managed cold smugness.

"I'm going to destroy a world Kai, with the power of Luna. Before the Peace Festival is over, my plan will be carried out, and as fire rains down on Earth, you will be able to look up at the Lunar halo that brought it." Kai couldn't believe his ears. The woman he had come to know as the most unselfish and self-sacrificing person he knew was planning not Earth's domination like her aunt, but its destruction! He had to stop her.

"Guards!" He barked into his communicator. "Get in here!" The androids wasted no time entering the room through the double doors with their machine efficiency. Before they had taken their posts around the room Kai gave his orders.

"Arrest her Majesty and take her into custody." Kai didn't know what Cinder had planned but she very well couldn't go through with it lock away a mile underground. Nothing happened, just the final androids taking their places around the room. Kai quickly glanced left then right in confusion.

"Guards, I said to arrest Queen Cinder, uh I mean Selene!" They still did not move. "What is wrong with you!" Now Kai was angry. He stomped over to the nearest android and took note of its identity number.

"Palace Guard Unit 47, I am Emperor Kai of the Eastern Commonwealth, authorization code 7-7-3-Alpha-Tango-9-Bravo-2-1-Victor-Victor-Charlie-9-8, do you acknowledge?!"

"Acknowledged." The seven foot android replied. "Identity confirmed, Emperor Kai, Eastern Commonwealth."

"Then comply with my orders! Take Queen Selene into custody!" Kai nearly spat.

"Negative." Was the response. "You do not have the authorization."

"Don't have the authorization?!" Kai cried in outrage. He skirted the room looking each android in its visual sensors. "I am the Emperor! I am a member of the Earthen Council! How can I not have the authorization?!"

"Because they no longer respond to your authority." Came Cinder's calm reply. Kai whirled to face her. She sat, back straight, on her throne with her fire ravaged head held high. "They only recognized me now."

"What?" Kai replied, bewildered.

"They are mine, Kai! The same as Luna." Cinder's rigidity did not fail, she betrayed no emotion. Kai on the other hand went numb, his jaw dropping.

"How?" He managed to asked through his speechlessness.

"I am nearly half machine." Cinder replied. "I always had a unique understanding of anything electronic. Combined that with my lunar half, it becomes obvious. Don't feel too bad Kai, it took me a year to work it out." She smiled hesitantly.

"I..." Kai struggled to understand what was happening. "don't believe it. I don't believe it!" He shouted. "This has to be some trick."

"It no longer matters what you believe, this is happening. So just let it happen." Was Cinder's cold reply. Without thinking, Kai rushed her. The android guards were still arrayed around the room's edge, but he stood in the middle of the room, closer to Cinder than any of them. Though Kai had the advantage of proximately, he wasn't certain what he could do with Cinder before the guards were upon them. He was fairly fit and supposed he could over power her and hold her hostage. He had no thought after that, just that he needed to reach her and stop her at any cost.

Only an arm's length away from the Lunar Queen, the guards had yet to respond. His immediate goal was within reach. But before he could grab her, Cinder leaned forward with speed and her left hand shot out and closed around his throat. With vice like grip she choked him, his breathing became labored and he instinctively struggled to free himself from her grip. As he failed to do so he realized completely that taking charge of her android guards wasn't the only thing she had done. The cybernetic hand that she wore was not the fragile toy the Earthen Council had imposed on her, this one was capable of killing him. As his reason returned but before he could take advantage of his superior reach a stiletto knife snapped out of one finger. It softly, but menacingly caressed his neck. Kai froze as he stared in Cinder's eyes, frightened for his life from the face of fire ruin scars that now seemed to burst into flames. The smell of burning human flesh became stronger making Kai gag despite the lack of air.

"How dare you attack me?!" Cinder stood up and forced Kai back down the steps and into the awaiting arms of her androids. That flash of anger receded quickly into the grotesqueness of her glamour. When she released him into their grip, he gasped for air. "I was going to release you to prepare for what is to come, but now I have to..."

"Cinder!" Kai interrupted with a cry of despair. "Please don't do this, don't throw everything good thing you've done just take revenge on me! If its revenge you want then take me and do with me what you will, but please spare the Earth. The people, my family, have done nothing to you. You don't have to do this!" The sad smile returned to Cinder's face.

"I do Kai, I have to do this. It is the only way to have peace for our peoples as well as myself. It won't be as bad as you believe, a halo around the moon, followed by a rain of fire from which Luna will descend." After a moment she quietly added. "I will no longer have to be the Lunar Queen. I will be free, at last!"

"Free?!" Kai snorted, becoming contemptuous. "You will have the blood of billions of innocents on your hands! As you burned in life may you burn in..."

"I think that will be enough," Cinder cut him off. She gestured to the androids. "Thank you for your visit Emperor Kai, however I need to prepare for my next audience. Guards please take the Emperor to his ship and that the ship leaves with him on it." The androids complied with her command without a word and began to drag Kai toward the door. Kai's contempt exploded into desperate rage. He began to struggle, kick, and flail about, trying with all his might to break the grip of the guards. No use, all he managed to do was to force them to drag him with his heels streaking the reflective floor.

"CINDER! CINDER!" He snarled at the woman he had once care for, as though he could forge her name into a curse with the bite of a missile. She stared at his departure, listened to her name on his voiced and her lip quivered.

"Stop!" She commanded the androids, rising quickly from her throne. They halted at the doors, still firmly gripping the Emperor. Her cry caught Kai off guard. She nearly broke into a run to catch up, and while she approached, Kai noticed her face return to normal. Or was she? The scars were gone, but in their stead there was something, Though more subtle and just as unreal as the scars, was still there.

_**Smudges of grease?**_ Kai thought as she was only a meter away. Cinder appeared much as she had during that fateful ball. Her face lined faintly with grease and her hair in a poorly managed ponytail. She was also crying, and that Kai was _almost certain_ was real.

"Let him go." The androids dropped him without ceremony and Kai fell on his rear. Cinder fell to her knees before Kai and reached for his hands, pulling them to her lips. She kissed them and soak them with her tears. Again Kai was trapped in ambivalence, he was still very angry, hateful of what Cinder was plotting, but how could he stay angry for long at the piteous woman before him. Her tears cooled his ire more than her metal hand cooled his skin and he drew her close.

"Kai," she croaked as he began to hold her. "When you came, I thought I wanted you to hate me. I thought it would be easier for me to go through with it, I thought your hatred would free me, but I can't let it end like this. I can't let you go hating me. It's too much for me to bear."

"Then don't go through with it!" Kai implored. "You can still stop your plan can't you?" Cinder shook her head in defeat.

"I can't live like this anymore Kai, I have to do something!" Cinder's voice broke into a low wail and she cried. Kai simply held her and stoked her head, not knowing what to say. He was still in her power and he didn't know what she had planned or even if it could be stopped without her. Besides her sobs awoke an old feeling for her as well as the guilt he had arrived with. He could say or do nothing for what seemed like a year.

The sobs lessened and Cinder recover some of her composure and peace. She pulled away from Kai gently and looked him in the eyes.

"Kai will you do something for me?" She asked. He looked into her red eyes.

"Yes." He agreed. "But what do you want me to do?"

"Let me..." Cinder hesitated for a moment. "Let me kiss you,... please.?" It was such a simple, little thing, but it made him uncomfortable. He was a married man, this was not proper, was she trying to blackmail him? Even as he allowed his mind to be distracted by the thought, Cinder leaned forward, lips parted and kissed him. It was a long kiss, gently passionate, like the kiss from so long ago. Only this time, Kai found himself unable to resist, if only a little. He returned the kiss with the same suavity.

As he allowed the feeling of electricity flow through, he hardly noticed a pinch of pain on his back. Numbness in his flesh, weakness in his limbs, and fog in his mind came quickly. He had just time enough to recognize the effects of a tranquilizer. He couldn't even open his eyes to look at her. _**She had betrayed him!**_ Then darkness imploded the thought and he felt no more for a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Audience with Linh**

Cinder caressed the cradled head in her lap for, she didn't know how long, but she wished it could be for eternity. He was so handsome, his face was only just beginning to show signs of age. Once, in the fantasies of escape, she had imagined them like this at some remote retreat in the Eastern Commonwealth. It had kept her afloat during many a dark time, but had been lost with his marriage to another. Now she had found it again and she didn't want it to go, she didn't want him to go. So she just let reality slip away as she rock to music only she could hear and kissed the man's forehead and lips lovingly.

It couldn't last, for one of her android guards announced the arrival of her next audience. She must not have heard the usual announcing beep and she ignored the android. He repeated the announcement and Cinder realized her time was up, the dream was gone, she had work to do.

"Tell them I'll be just a moment, and direct them to the Tea Room." She turned to another android as she carefully laid Kai's head off her lap and onto the floor. "Take the Emperor to his ship by the alternate route, if they ask what happened, say only that he has taken ill and leave." She stood up and back away as the large machine pick-up her beloved Kai and carried him out the doors. His departure left her with a grating, hollow feeling, like glass whirling in a twister. She held herself in a tight embrace and fought back the urge to howl.

She had to be strong now, no more time for distractions however pleasant or unpleasant. Next she would have to face down the first enslavers she could remember. The only family she had ever known. The Linhs. Cinder shook off her emptiness and stood straight, head high, and strode through the side doors. Down the hallway and to Tea Room a room she had never used until now.

As the androids opened the doors, she faced the two people she'd hated most on Earth and hadn't seen in over a decade. Adri and Pearl Linh. Life had treated them well, they had both gained a little weight but their figures were still trim, especially Pearl's. She didn't look if she had even had two kids, or even if the divorce was doing anything but amusing her. Their clothes were the height of current designer fashion as was their position in society. And whether they recognized or not, it was all due to Cinder.

When the war had started and the importance of the Bioelectric Security System became known, it was Cinder who had pointed Linh Garan as the inventor and that his family should enjoy the belated fruits of his labor. Thus a large royalty, some 4 million univs yearly, had been appointed to them. They had certainly taken advantage of it, if Cinder's memory served her, buying a large estate in the countryside, an expensive apartment in the capital. They had the finest clothes, cars, and accessories. They went to every ball and social event, flaunting their good fortune, and with their fortune, Pearl's shrewish attitude was tolerated enough that she even got married, until last month that is.

Yes life had treated them well, but more than that, Adri and Pearl had something Cinder had always craved yet never acquired. Freedom and love. Even in their diminished circumstances before the war, they never had to work, no responsibilities. Cinder, on the other hand, slaved away all day with the weight of providing for the family and a subconscious guilt of being responsible for the death of Garan and later Peony. Well, now Cinder was going to leave them a burden, that is if they were both smart and had conscience enough to see it.

Having had enough of the reverie, Cinder strode inside and the two women, who were seated around the tea table, didn't not stand. They barely even turned their heads to look at her, simply continued their conversation. From the sound of it, it was all about the divorce. Cinder circled around the table to them.

"Ahem." She announced herself and then curtsied to both women. "Mrs. Linh, Mrs. Nim. Thank you for agreeing to come to tea." They gave her a more complete survey as she caught their attention, but still made no reply. Cinder could feel their sense of fear through their bio-electricity and her previous suspicions were confirmed. Adri and Pearl may disregard her even to her face, but deep within they were afraid of her, afraid of what they did while ignorant of her heritage. So much the better for her now.

"C227," She gestured to the serving android on hand. "Please bring the tea and leave it on the table, I will serve it myself. Make sure we are not disturbed. Thank you." The android wheeled out of the room leaving Cinder alone with the women she despised. Cinder used that spite and forged it into a faux smile of amiability. Such a smile would not fool Adri or Pearl, but this confrontation was about showing that she was the better person for seeking reconciliation.

"Mrs. Nim," Cinder addressed Pearl as she sat down at the third chair. "I couldn't help but overhear the sad news of your divorce. Please accept my condolences of a most disagreeable affair. Your children must be heartbroken." Pearl sneered in response.

"If I wanted _your _condolences, _Cinder_, I wouldn't have ignored you." She turned to her mother. "Even a decade of royal life hasn't taught her any manners. Eavesdropping!" Adri's face was an odd mixture of humor and horror, at made Cinder laugh from within herself. _**She approves of Pearl's opinion but not her own lack of manners!**_ Cinder thought.

"Yes, forgive me." Cinder inclined head as if to show her shame. "I did forget my manners, but whether you want my condolences or not you have them Mrs. Nim, or have you gone back to your maiden name?"

"Maiden name, _if you must know.__**" **_Pearl was going to say something else, but Adri cut her off with a look.

"We are...pleased that you invited us to tea, Queen Selene." She actually managed to sound sweet. "And forgive my daughter's discourtesy to you our hostess. She is going through a hard time and sometimes forgets herself."

"Of course step-mother." Cinder responded, and Adri squirmed faintly in her chair at the honorific. Cinder was anything but Adri's idea of the ideal step-daughter. Cyborg and Lunar Queen, it would be hard to find another farther from the ideal than Cinder. "And _you _needn't call me by that name. We both know that my real name is Cinder, it is after all what I am, the filthy remnant of something greater, why deny it?"

"Of your Majesty. Cinder it is." Both Adri and Pearl were puzzled by this admission, they expected Cinder to play up her heritage and accomplishments.

"Thank you." C227 returned with the tea, hot and steamy. The tray was arrayed with the finest tea set in the palace, far more exquisite than any Adri or Pearl had ever seen and it showed. Their eyes bugged out at the incredible carvings and coloring that adorned the pieces. When the android had placed the saucers and cups around the table, they both picked up the items to examine them more closely. C227 left the room when its task was done. In the silence that followed Cinder arose from her seat to take up serving the tea. She poured each cup and deposited into each the desired amount of cream and sugar. They each took a sip of the tea.

"This is probably the best tea I have ever had. If you think about it, this may be the closest thing we have ever done together anything like a family." Cinder said nonchalantly. Before either Adri and Pearl could reply, she continued. "But I didn't invite you over just for tea, I wanted you two to come for a very special reason."

"And what reason is that?" Pearl asked. Cinder allowed sadness to touch her features.

"A question and 2 gifts, Pearl." Cinder answered, using Pearl's name for the first time in years. "I know the answer to the question, but I will only be satisfied if I hear the truth from your own lips, step-mother. I only ask you to speak your mind, no matter want you say I will not be offended." She let the ball fall into Adri's court and waited for her response.

"I understand Cinder." Came Adri's cautious reply. "Ask your question." Now it had come, why did she feel nervous, she knew what was going to be said. Did she still hope?

"My question step-mother... I have no memory of any family but yours. I don't remember my mother or any father, if I had any to begin with. You are the only mother I have ever known and I did much to please and support you all those years." She knew she was rabbling, like trying to justify herself to someone. _**Enough**_, she thought, _**get on with it.**_ "So my question is this, in our years together was there ever a time no matter how small that you care for me at all?"

"No." Was the reply, as Cinder had expected, though a little delayed. There was no orange, blinking light.

"Not even a doubt of a feeling? A shadow even?" Cinder had to give her the full treatment, not that it would affect the outcome of her designs. She just wanted to know.

"No. Not even a shadow of a feeling." Adri confirmed with resolution, her own head held high, eyes staring into Cinder's. Still no orange light. Cinder release a breath she didn't know she had held. She sensed Adri's complete honesty as far as her abilities could discern. All was as she had thought, now what was left was the execution.

"Even now I had hoped beyond reason," Cinder lower her eyes. "And it has failed me. Thank you for your honesty, I am satisfied." Out of the corner of her eye, Cinder could see Pearl beginning to fidget, and sensed her discomfort at the subject of the conversation. They all finished their tea.

"Now that _my_ mother answered _your_ question, what about the gifts you mentioned?" Pearl interrupted the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes," Cinder cleared her throat. "The gifts." She called C227 through the wireless link they shared, and asked it to bring in the gifts. C227 entered with what could be described as small trunk topped with a smaller box. Both were ornate in the extreme, covered in inlaid lunar diamonds and gold runes. The items were a far greater treasure than the tea set, Adri and Pearl's faces showed it. However the real prizes, as Cinder knew, laid within the trunk and box.

"Just put those on the floor C227, and clear off the table. Once you're finished cleaning it, take it to the ship." The android obeyed and the table was cleared quickly. Once the android left, Cinder arose from her chair and placed the box there. She hefted the trunk up to the table. "This is only the summation of your first gift." Cinder's hand on the palm reader on the lid open the truck. The look on Adri and Pearl's faces again showed stunned admiration and lust. In the truck lay a magnificent crown. "Adri, do you recognize this?"

"Yes, that is the official crown of Luna. You wore it at your coronation, I believe."

"You believe correctly, Adri. And now it is yours, along with all of Luna. The first gift I give to you two is the gift of Sovereignty and all its fringe benefits." They looked at her confused at her intent. Cinder smiled realizing she would have to explain, it was worth it. "I declare you my heirs, to rule Luna after I am gone. It is all arranged, you will find the necessary documents on your ship. You will also find many of the trappings of the palace, however unfortunately not all could fit in the ship. You will have to do without them. There are a number of accounts that have been set up for your support while you wait to claim your rights, you find that information on the ship as well."

"Ship?" Both Adri and Pearl asked in a state of incredible stupor. Cinder could help but grin at the way their mouths hung open.

"Yes, a pretty ship." She cooed to her quests. "The royal transport. You remember, the one that brought you to Luna." They still were slow in taking in the information. They looked to each other and then to Cinder more than once. Then they colored red and Pearl spoke first.

"This some kind of cruel joke!" Pearl shrieked, bounding onto her feet, fists clinched in a most unladylike way. "What's your game Cinder, huh?! Trying to make fools of us is that it?! Giving us all this, just to deny it later and everyone calls us nuts?!"

"No game, Pearl." Cinder replied calmly. "Everything I have said is the absolute truth. The crown, the moon, everything that I have is yours. Both of you always wanted money and rank, now you have them. Aren't you two happy?" Now it was Adri's turn to speak.

"Happy Cinder?! You have just told us the impossible, why would we believe you?" Adri rose from her seat and grabbed Pearl by the arm. "Even _if_ you could leave us the throne of Luna, and run off somewhere, we could never take it, the Lunars would tear us to shreds. It is most _unappreciated _how you would go to such lengths to have your revenge and kill us. Come Pearl we are leaving, now!"

The two women circled the table, giving Cinder a wide berth, quickly to the door. They found their way barred by the large security androids. Cinder gave a mental order for the guards to herd the women back into the room. They struggled against the machines physically and with verbal commands, both to no avail. The guards pick them up and carried them before Cinder. She smiled at the still struggling and now cursing women.

"Step-mother," She called them to attention. "I don't need such a extravagant plan to take revenge on you or even to kill you, as you seem to think. I could order my guards to kill right now." The women stared at her in horror and disbelief.

"Tha... That's impossible! They won't take those orders from you, only from a member of the Earthen Council!" Pearl stammered, unsure of the words as they escaped her lips.

"Pearl, I'm half machine, or have you forgotten. There has never been another such as I, machine and lunar royal. It took time but now I have full command of Luna and no one is the wiser. Perhaps a demonstration is necessary? Guards lift your charges above your heads and drop them on their heads at my command." Adri and Pearl screamed in terror as the androids did as Cinder ordered.

"Cinder, please!" Cried Pearl.

"Mercy, your Majesty! We beg you!" Was Adri's cry.

"Very well." Cinder conceded. The android's set the women down gently on their feet at Cinder's mental command, then exited the room. Adri and Pearl collapsed to their knees, the fact that death came so close momentarily weakened them.

"Do you believe me now?" Cinder asked as she extended her hand to Adri, offering to help her up. Adri flinched back but accepted it a second later. Pearl as well. "Now that that unpleasant digression is over, you can take your seats. I still have one gift for you." The women sat down as Cinder recover the box from her chair. She handed it to Adri. "Open it."

Adri hesitated, if the last gift was the Lunar kingdom, what more could Cinder give her. Or at least that is what Cinder imagined going through Adri's head. When Adri opened the ornate box at last, she looked at Cinder with a frown.

"What is this?" She asked.

"It is a remote, step-mother."

"We can see that!" Pearl nervous impatience to be gone was making her unravel slightly that she didn't properly regulate her voice. "What is it a remote for?"

"Under every lunar city and outpost, there is a thermonuclear generator, installed as a sign of peace and cooperation between Earth and Luna. That is of course public knowledge, dismantling the solar plants in effort to make Luna dependant on Earth. What is not public knowledge is that those generators are designed with an overload mechanism that will cause a multi-megaton explosion that with destroy the Lunar people, that is if the ever got out of hand again. That remote is programmed with the detonation codes of all the generators, with a timer key. In twelve hours, that remote's detonation codes become active for five minutes, with the push of a button you can end the entire Lunar race. My second gift to you is the Gift of Revenge."

Silence. Adri slammed the lid shut.

"Why?!" Adri demanded. "Why would you give us this?! Why would want US to destroy your people?!"

"You have to ask?" Cinder retorted. "Who is responsible for the death of Peony? Of Garan? Don't tell me that neither of you hasn't craved my death for your loss! I lived while they died! I was your bread and butter when you should have been wallowing in luxury, benefits of Garan's genius, with him and Peony at your side. I am the sum of everything you hate, the source of all your woes. How often did you cram that thought in MY HEAD! Even now you wish our places had been exchanged, that I had never been and they had lived." Adri and Pearl went pale and did not deny it.

"But to kill so many! The innocents. Surely you can control them, you have so far." Pearl pointed out.

"Pearl," Cinder shook her head. "It isn't enough. I just showed you that I could break every restraint that the Earthen Council imposed to keep me in line. I am dangerous, and the only reason I haven't gone rogue is I have dedicating all my _evil_ tendencies to acquiring this opportunity for you. After that, there are the Lunars. They brought the Blue Fever to Earth, that killed millions and have been threatening Earth for centuries, choking it into economic depression. They all have glamour like myself. When I go bad like every other member of my family, what will happen? If not I, then another. We all are just too powerful for anyone's good. Will you take that risk with your children lives?

"I can tell you the leaders of Earth don't have the will to do needs to be done. The Earthen Council, bless their hearts, are trying to walk a knife's edge with the enlightened yet safe path. They are trying to preserve their greatest enemy, letting me take the throne and rule, if only in word. They even think of the future. Emperor Kai was just here with an offer to find me a suitable consort personally, so I could produce an heir to take over. I'm sure the rest are already preparing my replacement, after all, genocide is simply too barbaric. An arranged marriage is far more civilized." Cinder stopped for a moment.

"You two didn't know that did you? That I can have children the same as you, the same as any _human _woman. No problems, no need for any medical aid. Just bed me with a man at my period and bang, baby nine months later. It's funny how the it's the little, everyday things that makes one human, little things I can't do. I can't cry, I can't even blush, but I can have children. The closest thing I have to being human is always overlooked, never considered by people curious about my cybernetic nature, they always assume it was consumed by my machine half.

"Oh well, I may descend from generations of brutal rulers and so everyone automatically expects me to be barbaric and I don't have to worry about little things like humanity, but I'm not heartless. I would never put a child, mine or another's, through what I must endure. It certainly be selfish of me to enjoy a pleasures of a husband and child when I am responsible for the loss of a husband and child of another. Wouldn't you agree Pearl?"

Pearl did not respond. She and Adri were too dumbfounded by everything that Cinder had said, especially her last revelation.

"One last thing, you may not believe this, but I did love Peony very much. I also grieved for Garan when he passed away and I even felt, on rare occasion, a shadow of feeling for you two. However none of that no longer matters, I owe you a debt. Since I have robbed you of Garan and Peony, I have done what I could to comfort and provide for you in their place." Cinder curtsied deeply and turned to the door. When she had reached it, she turned back to them. "And when _I am_ gone, think better of me step-mother."

The doors closed with a satisfying thud.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Adri's Decision**

The hours had crawled by since Adri and Pearl were taken from the palace to their new ship. Both their minds were so filled with the things that Cinder had said and the way she had said them that they barely realized they had boarded their ship. Neither woman could speak two each other so they went to bed but could not find rest. When they arose the next day, they were already half way to Earth.

Despite the lack of sleep the night before, they had recovered enough to be curious about the palace trappings stored onboard the ship. They explored the vaults of the ship and were not disappointed. The vaults were filled with treasures of all kinds. Fine clothes, exquisite art, glorious jewelry. They spent an hour combing through it all and still there was more. Adri and Pearl were beginning to feel like the top of the world. Then Adri saw them, the trunk and the box. They were placed on the ground of the walk way where they hadn't been before.

_**An android must have been programmed to make sure we found it the right time.**_ Adri thought as she checked her watch. Only an hour before she had to make her decision. She lifted the box off the trunk and set it aside. She opened the trunk and stared at the crown it held.

It was a beautiful crown, made of the finest materials known to humanity, platinum, iridium, and gold along with the staple Lunar Diamonds and other lesser gems. Gracefully crafted to fit around a human head in a spiraling fashion with lunar runes hidden in the web, it was said that the design amplified lunar glamour. The whole ensemble was not in any way gaudy, only elegant.

Captivated by the crown, Adri suddenly had the desire to see it on her own head. She spied a rather plain, full length mirror only a few feet away. She rose and approached the mirror, the crown cradled in her hands, until she all but filled it. She placed the crown on her head and gazed upon her reflection.

Remarkable, the crown suited her features as if made for her. There had been a time, in her youth, when everyone revered her beauty. That beauty was faded, like old silk, but it was still there. She had tried to recapture it in its fullness, especially after Garan died, with make-up but it eluded her. But the crown seemed to revive some part that made her look years younger. Even years happier, or was that just her vanity.

Yes, vanity. She knew she was vain, just chose to never acknowledge it to herself or anyone. Social standing and reputation had been everything to her. She had played for the best available and for a time, that is what she had. A handsome, genius husband, two beautiful daughters, and a fine house in a good neighborhood. She was esteemed by all those who knew her. Her life was wonderful and it seemed that it would only get better.

Then the string of unfortunate events happened, and they all started with _that girl_. First Garan had brought Cinder, a cyborg, into their household without consulting with her first. Perhaps that is why he didn't talk to her, he knew she'd never allow such an outcast from society as a cyborg into her home, it'd make the family appear unseemly to her friends. Such disdain was easy to see, after all, cyborgs were too dangerous to be around normal people, not to mention unsightly at best.

However, if it had appeared that she hadn't known Garan was adopting such a grotesque creature, she would seem weak, unable to manage her man and family. There would be gossip, what else did Adri not know about her husband's 'pursuits?' That was worse for Adri and Garan knew it. So with that and a little persuasion, she had agreed to the arrangement. It wasn't much, enough about science and Garan's invention that made Adri's head swim, she never was very scientifically adept. That was Garan's field and she left it to him.

Then the next, even more disastrous shift in her life came a week later. Before she could get the negative impact of a cyborg 'step-daughter' on her social circles off her mind, Garan came down with the Blue Fever. He left her a widow, with two helpless daughters and an unwanted burden. That was when her life ended.

She had known that their finances were bad, but only Garan had known the particulars. When she finally came around the grief enough to look at monetary concerns, she had realized the lengths to which Garan had gone to develop his invention. Garan's masterpiece invention had failed to attract any funding to cover the expense to which he had gone to design and build it. An invention that brought them nothing, useless trinket! Useless like the cyborg girl.

Garan had promised her that Cinder had some value, that she was important in some way but never really elaborated. Only the words, _you must take care of the girl_. Now he was gone and Adri had no idea what to do with the cyborg. Cinder was just another burden she had to deal with, and a great deal more unsightly than most.

What money that was left went quickly, and with it the life she had come to depend on. The house and all their major belongings were about to be repossessed. Everyone of her friends deserted her, not that she would have asked for help anyway, at least not for a while. She wasn't qualified for any work that was considered respectable in her old circle, and she was too ashamed to work at anything less.

In those dark days, a light sprang, but not a light she wanted to see. It was like being used to the yellow light of the sun all your life only see a bizarre star take its place. That light was Cinder. The cyborg girl actually had a use, as a mechanic. At only eleven years old she was better than most trained mechanics, and she, in an effort to be useful, had taken jobs to help pay for the family expenses. The financial burdens did ease with her efforts, but it wasn't what Adri wanted. She wanted her husband, she wanted Garan.

Garan. She had married him for his mind, not that she was ever attracted to intelligence like that. No, she married him because she wanted the rewards that came with a famous husband. The money from his inventions, the fawning of admirers both above and below, and the endless possibilities of the future. He was her ticket to a life she had dreamed about since she was a little girl. Yet in their time together, she fell in love with the man. Not anything particular, just the sum of who he was. And now he was gone, leaving a truly poor replacement in his wake.

A replacement, she was certain, had caused his death. She had no proof of course. No understood the disease at the time and she didn't understand it now. All she knew was Garan had been perfectly fine before his trip to Europe, but died soon after he got back. If he hadn't gone looking for Cinder, Adri was sure he'd still be alive, surly he wouldn't have caught the Blue Fever. However, since the cyborg had cost her the husband she depended upon, then she would take whatever she could from that creature to survive. After all, despite her pride, she wasn't ready for her family to starve.

Unfortunate event #3: exile. Though they didn't starve, Cinder didn't make enough to prevent the next turn in Adri's life, leaving the respectable upscale neighborhood in the suburbs to a downtrodden apartment complex in the near slums of the capital. Now there wouldn't even be eye contact with her former friends. Instead she was surrounded by people she had looked down upon for most of her life, the working families. That was when she knew old life was beyond reach. It would take a miracle, one saturated with Adri's misfortune, to raise her up again.

The next misfortune was the illness and death of her younger daughter, Peony. Peony! So sweet a girl, with Adri's beauty and Garan's good temper, she made such a good match if she'd only lived longer. Pearl may have been her favorite child on the outside, but it was Peony that Adri had the highest hopes for. Of them all, she deserved death the least. Yet Cinder, who deserved to die the most, should have been dead already, lived. Why was it that that _thing_ always seemed to persist in her life when what she care for most disappeared? The answer to that question would come later, not that it provided Adri any comfort.

In that darkest of days, Adri made, as she saw in hindsight, a rash decision. Too blinded by grief and hatred to care about killing her goose, she sold Cinder for experimentation. That was the miracle in disguise, a normally foolish decision that would, in the end rescue her from poverty. But at the time Adri could only believe that the fates were torturing her when Cinder returned the next day unharmed, bound to her once again.

Though her rash act had set off a chain of events, it took a long time before Adri could see and benefit. It came nearly a year to the day after the fateful ball. She and Pearl were again at the end of their rope, no money and soon no apartment, then a royal messenger came to the door. He brought them in a royal hover to a conference room at the palace. It was then and there that Adri for the first time understood what Garan had been doing and why he felt Cinder so important.

They, representatives of nations of the Earth, had to explain it to her more than once. Cinder was really Princess Selene of Luna, the lost lunar heir. That nearly gave Adri a heart attack. That half machine creature was a princess! Garan had known, why hadn't he told her?! Had she'd known... What was going to happen to her, surly Cinder err... Selene would have her punished in some way.

Then she had learned about the Bio-electrical Security System that had been implanted in Cinder's spine. Garan's invention had worked! She and Pearl would be rich, never wanting for anything ever again. The governments of Earth were buying the patents from Adri and settling on her a sizable settlement. Even the fact, mentioned in passing, that it was Cinder who established Adri and Pearl as the current owners of the technology did not gall her. Quite the contrary, Adri felt Cinder finally done something worthwhile. Cinder was no longer her responsibility, the Earthen governments had basically bought her from Adri along with Garan's invention. Since that time she had paid Cinder little thought, until the strange appeals started to arrive.

It had been months ago, Pearl was just starting with her divorce. Delivered to her house by special courier was a lavish invitation from the Lunar Palace bidding Adri and Pearl come to take tea with now Queen Selene. Adri threw it away after admiring the craftsmanship. Cinder was no longer a part of her life and she would rather forget that Cinder ever had a part in it at all.

Yet Cinder did not give up. She sent more and more invitations every week, some with gifts. Such was the case for the better part of the year. Finally Adri, partly due to weariness, part to curiosity, and partly due to the realization that Cinder was essentially a prisoner and could not do her or Pearl any harm, accepted. She had imagined the wretched cyborg attempting to impress her and Pearl with her vast treasures and her great palace, probably in a pathetic effort for recognition from her. Adri remembered that she smugly decided to refuse any such familial acknowledgement, if only to spite the nix.

Nothing had gone to what Adri envisioned. Cinder was not a prisoner in her own palace, instead she was in full command of her kingdom, though no one knew it. She could have done terrible things to Adri and Pearl, yet she hadn't, she spared them. She hadn't shown them everything she had in an effort to spark some sense of familial pride for her, to belong. No Cinder had forced that connection on them by making Adri and Pearl her heirs, by giving them everything she had. Giving Adri her life and the lives of her people.

Adri looked away from her reflection and too the small, shimmering box. She reached for it carefully and opened it solemnly. There was the remote, as she had seen before. Adri took it in her hand, the timer on the screen had changed from when she'd last seen it, now only fifteen minutes remained. Fifteen minutes until she'd have the power to condemn an entire race to extinction. To condemn a broken girl to the death she'd narrowly escaped. What WAS SHE GOING TO DO?

"Mom look at this gown!" Pearl's near girlish squeal tore Adri from her whirlpool of thoughts. Pearl had appeared from around the corner vested in a glorious gown just her size and twirled for her mother. "It just divine isn't it?"

"Yes, it... it is." Adri had trouble finding her voice.

"Oh mom! Is that the Lunar crown on your head?!" Pearl asked when stopped spinning enough to look at her mother. She quickly approached. "You look so... queenly in it! May I try it on?" She begged with her eyes.

"Yes dear, you may." Adri conceded. Pearl happily bounced once in unbridled joy then gained enough control to pluck the crown off Adri's head and placed it on her own. She nearly shoved Adri out of the way so she could see herself in the mirror. She awed and cooed at herself, turning from side to side. She looked every bit the princess Cinder had made her, but Adri really didn't notice. She noticed only the weight she held in her hand. Now only ten minutes left. What WAS SHE GOING TO DO?

"Mom, mom, did you hear me? What are you staring at, Oh!" Pearl exclaimed when she spotted the remote in Adri's hand. "What are going to do?"

"I _don't know!_" Adri replied, hysteria forcing her tone up. "I don't what I should do with this thing! Why would she give me this burden? I don't want it!"

"She's crazy mom," Pearl replied. "You always said that she was crazy, that all cyborgs are unnatural freaks. They can't think straight." Yes, she had told Pearl and Peony that all their lives. They were her children, she wanted the best for them, to protect them from what she considered dangerous. Dangerous like a lunar cyborg stepdaughter.

_**Stepdaughter!**_ It was the first time Adri had identified Cinder with that world. Somewhere in Adri's soul, a crack had formed in the callous armor around her heart, and the crack was growing larger.

Cinder was not a daughter of her body, true, but she was a daughter in her family. She was family. Adri looked at Pearl, and remembered the first time she could feel her daughter inside her, kicking. She had Garan come over and feel the movement in her belly. That was when the reality of a life within her became real. That was when she fell in love with her kind, generous husband and her then unborn Pearl. Her family. Five minutes left.

_**Family! Children!**_ Cinder couldn't cry, blush, or even sweat, but she could do one human thing. Cinder could have children! She could know the wonder of life inside you, the pain to bring it out, and the joys and pains of watch your children grow up. It had been a stunning revelation to Adri. She and Cinder could have shared in one thing. Adri loved her grandchildren, she could have been a grandmother to lunar heirs if she only had... What children would not be born, what lives would not exist, because she hadn't taken the time to...

"Crazy?" Adri inquired to no one as the timer hit one minute. Soon she would have the power, dare she use it? Could she live with it? "Maybe she was crazy, Pearl, but just had a thought. How did we help her? What if we had done something to help her? Your father... **Galaxies!** Your father asked me to take care of her!" Adri's mind raced, going over everything she had known about Cinder. "He knew who she was, what she had been through! She was left to him, a princess, and he left her to me! I should have trusted him! I should have helped her!"

The remote beeped, its old timer expired and a new countdown had began. Five minutes with the power to destroy the moon. Adri couldn't take it, the burden was too great. She dropped the remote as if it was as hot as a branding iron and turned away to lean on a statue for support as she wept.

"I can't do it!" Adri cried. "I can't take her life, even after everything, even with everything to gain, I just can't do it!" Pearl was taken aback by the force of her mother's reaction, never had her mother displayed such care for her stepsister. She looked down at the remote on the floor. Looking up to her mother's trembling form and then back to the small device that had caused this distress. She reached for it.

_**I wonder**_, Pearl thought as she picked the remote up. _**Could I do it?**_ She observed that the timer was still running, only three minute remaining. Three minutes with the power to destroy all lunars. Could she do it?

Pearl thought of her father, then of Peony. Peony had always been kind to Cinder, had she really seen something _human _in that bucket of bolts? Her father adopted Cinder, was there more to his plan that simply testing an invention? Did he ever love her, did Peony? Could she now take the life of something her father and she had loved, even though they were gone.

Thirty seconds. Twenty seconds. Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six five, four, three, two, one... Beeeep! The remote sounded. Pearl set the remote down on the a counter and shook her head.

"I couldn't do it." She affirmed to her mother, tear starting to streak down her face as well. Her mother turned and hugged her daughter tightly. They didn't know how long they embraced each other, only that it was for a long time. Finally they separated and Pearl asked, "What are we going to do?"

"First," Adri stated firmly, wiping the tears from her eyes. She picked up the remote and threw it into a refuse hatch. "We are going to throw this infernal device away! Now we're going to the cockpit and turn this ship around. I may never learn to love that girl, Pearl, but I will have compassion on her, if only for Garan and Peony's sake." Pearl nodded her agreement. She took the crown off her head and replaced it in the trunk and closed the lid before following her mother to the front of the ship.

"Turn this ship around!" Adri ordered once the cockpit doors opened to grant her entry. The pilot turned his seat to face them. An android, just like all things attached to the Lunar Queen. "I said turn us around!" Adri repeated.

"Negative!" Was the pilot's reply.

"What?!" Adri screeched. "You don't talk back to me, you lead pot! I order you to turn this ship back to Luna, NOW!"

"Negative!" The android repeated. "You do not have the authorization."

"Don't have the authorization?!" Adri growled. "Queen Selene gave us this ship, is that not correct?"

"Correct." The machine man confirmed.

"Then have to take our orders! So turn this ship around."

"Negative! You are not the Lunar Queen. Only the Lunar Queen is permitted to alter the course laid out for this ship." The android rotated its chair back to the flight console. Adri started to lose her temper, demanding the course change with as much vigor as she could verbally and tugging on the android to face her. Then the android spoke in a solemn tone. "Affirmative your Majesty! Orders from the Lunar Queen received and identity confirmed. Altering course to Luna. Time to destination...26 hours, mark!"

The android's use of the title and his sudden respectful manner to Adri caught both women off-guard. They didn't quite grasp what it meant, until they saw the halo hours later. It was a long time before Adri was alright.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Supernova of a Cinder**

Cinder's hands were shaking. Not so much out of fear at what was about to happen, but excitement and relief. _**After tonight I will be free!**_ Although she knew she would be taking every man, woman, and child with her, she could stop smiling.

The celebrations had begun hours before with Cinder inaugurating the party. It was a short appearance, she didn't want to see the people whose lives and hopes she'd be ending. It might put her in a bad mood, and this of all nights she refused to be in a bad mood. So instead she had her servants and a few 'friends' entertain her with jokes, games, and storytelling. It was a lovely night, but now it was time to end it.

She dismissed most to her private party and secluded herself in her dressing chambers. The hour was near and she had to get ready. When the celebrations had started, she had worn her best, a shimmering cloak and gown of white silk she had privately called the White Dwarf as a pun on herself, on what was about to happen.

For her great speech, she had let everyone think that she would be wearing an even grander ensemble. Instead she would go the other way, showing everyone as she really saw herself. Her clothes on, make-up applied, she checked her internal chronometer, fifteen minutes until Adri's decision, time to face the thunder.

Taking a series of corridors away from the standard route to the towering pavilion, she stepped out into the streets of the capital city. If she was going to do what she planned, she'd prefer going to her doom free from golden chains of rank. No one recognized her of course, they had never seen their queen or any royal without glamour or in such clothes. She simply walk among the people as one of them, something she hadn't done in years, since before she became queen.

The walk to the pavilion was pleasant, she greeted strangers and wave at their little kids. Seeing those little children saddened Cinder, they would never grow up, but she was still determined, for the alternative would be far worse.

Observing the families pass her by, her thoughts turned quickly to the friends she had once had. Iko, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorn, Cress, and her father Dr. Erland. They had been almost like family, especially Iko who Cinder had started to jokingly refer as her cousin. When Cinder had assumed the throne, contact with her friends was forbidden by the Earthen council, Cinder's isolation was paramount if they'd hoped to control her. Since their separation, Cinder had grown used to their absence, though, like now she wondered: Where were they now? What were they up to? Were they happy, safe? Did they think of her, or was she just a distant memory?

Accepting the half hearted greetings and waves from the strangers, Cinder made her way up to the pavilion. Situated in the middle of the capital's grand plaza before the palace, the lavish, temporary structure was where Cinder had started the celebrations and now it is where she would end them. Again she check her internal chronometer, five minutes to Adri's decision.

The androids recognized her face and let her pass, much to the shock of the crowd. Cinder could feel the surge of disbelief run through the crowd, the bio-electrical response like chained lightening. She climbed the stairs to the top of the pavilion and turned to overlook the crowd. They were restless, the initial fervor of the celebration was wearing off, and they were waiting for the promised second phase of their festival. Cinder checked her internal chronometer, it had been thirty seconds since the remote she gave Adri became active. Yet she and Luna were still here, strange.

Strange or not, Cinder had a job to do. She sent a bio-electrical signal to call the assembly to order. Slowly the crowd turned from their diversions and faced the pavilion, growing gradually quiet. Uncertainty touched their auras, for what they felt was their queen, but not what they saw.

They saw an unglamoured girl, in a shabby t-shirt and pants, wearing boots and work gloves, covered in grease standing in place of the star they had witness only hours before. Yet they knew who she was, her call could not lie. What she was about to say she had pondered over for months and practiced over the last weeks. She smiled, raising her arm in salutation to the throng and all lunars watching from every city, even the millions of interested souls on Earth.

"Hello people of Luna. You know me as Queen Selene. However, that is not who I am, the Selene you know died at age three, at the hands of her aunt, Queen Levana. I am her Cinder, who was saved by the enemies of Levana for the sole purpose of vanquishing her. They fanned the remaining embers of the fire ravaged princess in hope that what remained was enough for their purpose. That task is complete, but now we are faced with another dilemma, one connected to Levana and as old as our race.

"All of you remember the last Queen, how she terrorized our neighbors on the Earth. You can remember how she defiled your homes, taking your sons for her army turning them into monsters. So terrible was she that everywhere, among strangers or her own kind she was hated. She cared for none but herself, and devoured all who were of use to her, only to be cast aside when their use ceased. However, she is truthfully only the most recent of symptom of the real underlying problem.

"Since the beginning, our race has unfairly and unjustly manipulated others for our sole benefit. While we grew fat others, more capable, starved. We suck people and nations dry and leave them to wither under our uncaring vision. My aunt, the former Queen Levana was the worse example thus far, the latest in an unbroken chain of selfish tyrants. Uncontrolled, we are a parasitic blight on the universe.

"The leaders of Earth know this but in their decency they have sought to safeguard our future while protecting our own. They have exiled us to our world, never to leave. They have placed creatures in our mist unaffected by our glamour. They have even made us dependent on them for the power we need to survive. Yet even with these precautions, the efforts of the Earthen Council to walk the high road is a fool's errand. Eventually one of our people will overcome the Council's restrains and again threaten the freedom of the universe."

Cinder took a breath. A quick look at her internal chronometer revealed it was three minutes past the time allotted to Adri and Pearl. Yet she was still here, as were the cities and the people. Had Adri actually spared her? Was there something in that bitter old woman than loathing for Cinder or was she, like the Earthen Council, too weak to do the dirty work? Since Adri had never worked a day in her life, Cinder was certain that that was the case. Adri made it clear, she never felt anything for Cinder, no reason to hope for anything other than Adri's desire to remain 'respectable.' It was up to Cinder to make up the difference.

"I have a confession to make." She told her people. "Not long ago I gave an enemy of mine the power to destroy us all with the push of a button. Just now I realized she failed to use her opportunity. Like the leaders of Earth, she is concerned with her good reputation when it is her survival that is at stake. They can't be vile and brutal like their ancestors of ages past, they cannot commit genocide even to protect themselves from a genuine threat. They are to civilized for that.

"I, however, am not. For my brutal and vile ancestors were my mother and aunt, less than a generation ago. I have not the benefit of generations of enlightenment in my ancestry to deprive me of my savage nature like those of Earth. I have no good reputation, I can commit genocide because I am expected to.

"Even as I gave the power to destroy us all to an enemy, I have the power to free us from over imprisonment. Free us by enslaving the Earth, like my ancestors always postured. I can make the Earth rue the day we left to rot here until we withered away into nothing. I could except for one thing.

"Earth is my home, it is the place where I was reborn. It fills my earliest memories, it gave me my first education. It holds they only true friends and family I have ever known. Its people are my people as much you are, their dreams and fears were my dreams and fears. I could never enslave my home, not I feel its fears justified.

"This leaves me stuck, torn between two worlds. I can't avenge myself on Earth but nor can I ignore your plight. The choice I have is this, wither away slowly and hope that another after me doesn't embrace the savagery of our culture, or to nip that danger in the bud by destroying a world. As my last act as your queen, I choose to liberate us from our prison by condemning us to death. I choose to die."

As she finished her speech and her intention became clear, some of the crowd stood dumbfounded. Many more however went wild. First there was a rush to escape, the crowd twisted and contorted as it bottlenecked at the exits to the plaza. Then some charged Cinder, trying to breakthrough to her pavilion and prevent her endgame. It was all in vain of course, there was no escape. There were too many androids surrounding Cinder for the assault to overcome. Those fleeing would find all spaceports and ships on lockdown. Even if they could get to a ship and fly away, they'd never escape the debris.

Cinder was thrown to her knees as the combined glamour of thousands of lunars, near and far slammed into her. Pleading with her, forcing her to change her will. Cinder felt like the figurative weight of rule she had always bore had suddenly become a real physical mass crushing her. She had thought of using her own glamour to sooth the crowd into compliance, but decided against it. If they were going to die, they might as well understand it and fight it, that was their right.

She nearly regretted it. However a hope made her cling on. She had burned brightly like star once, as a child, hence the Cinder she became. A cinder like an old sun leaves behind. But she would not waste away slowly, like many White Dwarves do, no when she could choose a quicker, brighter path. A path that cleared the old and led the way for a new better world. She would go Supernova!

In her mental link with the active generators deep underground, she pushed. Not a button like she had given Adri, but a thought. _**Overload!**_ With all her might she struggled to raise her hands, to welcome the light that she knew was coming.

"FREEDOM!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. There was a sudden, violet tremor, then the light came.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Before the Dawn**

_"Investigations are continuing into the scope of the disaster on the moon. What is known is that every city has been completely destroyed and many smaller settlements. However, do to the extent of the halo of debris, the government states that there is too much interference for clear scans and any ship or probe that attempts to get close runs an almost certainty of being struck and disabled if not lost altogether."_

_ "Thank you Gao. Does the government have an estimate about when it will be safe to approach the moon?"_

_ "Yes Sung, they have released a rough estimate of three to five years. It will be too impractical track all the debris to allow safe passage for ships. So any search for survivors will have to be put off until then."_

_ "Wow, that is a long time. And what about the month long cancellations of space flights, has there been any further updates on those?"_

_ "I'm afraid so, Sung. That initial estimate has been extended to two months with a third month being considered."_

_ "Why is that, is there more debris than they were expecting?"_

_ "Yes, a lot more debris and the collision with the debris with other ejecta and with orbiting objects like satellites is cause greater chaos in the path of the initial cloud. It's just too early to know right now."_

_ "Wow, Gao. That is humbling. Well, thank you for your time. That was our Science Bureau correspondent Fei Gao, reporting live from the Science Bureau's main offices. We'll now turn to our special guest, Dr. Zeb Kim, department head of the University of New Beijing's Psychology Department, and author of Magic and Mind: A History of Lunacy in Lunars. Thank you for coming here today Doctor."_

_ "No thank you, Ms. Chin."_

_ "Well know Dr. Zeb, let get to the point shall we? Everyone is dying for some idea as to why Queen Selene would force the mass suicide of her entire population. Can you shed any light on that?"_

_ "Oh certainly, Ms. Chin. As I have said in my book, Magic and Mind, all lunars have this tendency toward strong disconnection from reality. Since they can force their will on anyone, they come to the conclusion that only they matter. This is particularly true for the royal family. They are the strongest of all lunars, and because they can make even lunars do as they please, they are especially unstable. The whole family as shown not the slightest concern for what consequences their actions have on others. Queen Selene is just the latest and greatest example of a social disorder going back hundreds of years. Did she ever consider the innocent lives she would be taking with her, the men, women, or children? How about the debris field that is taking down our satellite network and cutting off trade to the rest of the solar system. Some of those moon rocks have even killed people on Earth. Did Selene consider that?! No more than any of us would have when we step on insects. We know they're there, we just don't care. My research has established that, in general, the problem has gotten worse with time."_

_ "That is... and interesting analysis Dr. Zeb, but let's get to the point shall we? I'll ask the question that is on everyone's mind. Was Queen Selene truly crazy?"_

_ "Oh certifiably so, Ms. Chin. Best for anyone that she's gone. In my highly regarded opinion, she was the worst bad apple in the whole bushel."_

**"Shut UP!"** The saki bottle flew with uncharacteristic accuracy into the screen. The bottle shattered, glass torn into the screen and the picture was lost in a storm of electronic frizzle. Kai staggered back, trying to compensate for the force of the throw. **"You don't know anything! You,** you_, _you** Quack!"**

Kai lifted his hand up to force another mouthful of saki, only to remember he threw it at the screen. He swerved to the bar and stumbled for another bottle. He hated saki, too bitter for his taste, but if he was going to get drunk tonight he deserved to endure with bitterness, after what he had done.

He grabbed the last bottle, saki was the most potent alcoholic beverage around but he had failed to plan that into tonight. He tried to pry off the cork with his hands, he lost the corkscrew awhile back and gave up looking for it. Frustrated, he took a metal... something or other, and broke the top of the bottle. Saki spilled everywhere, and Kai raced the opened end to his open mouth. The bitterness of the saki and the sting from the cut he received from the broken glass near made him spit it out. The next time he gulped a little more carefully and avoided the sharp glass.

That bottle was finished, so he staggered to the balcony that overlooked the summer estate. He had such good memories here, running through the vast park with his mother. Those memories were overshadowed by the light from above. Kai looked up to a never before seen full moon. Not the clear disk everyone was used to, but a fuzzy disk surrounded by a halo.

There was a flash of light. Then another, and another. The sky was full of them, in all shapes and sizes. Needle streaks poured like rain, less numerous fireballs brightened the sky to daytime for a moment before vanishing into the darkness. Halo in the sky, fire raining down on Earth, this is what she had meant. One would think it beautiful, but they didn't know what Kai knew. _**I killed her!**_

_"I'm going to destroy a world Kai, with the power of Luna. Before the Peace Festival is over, my plan will be carried out, and as fire rains down on Earth, you will be able to look up at the Lunar halo that brought it."_ Halo in the sky and fire raining down on Earth, this is what she meant. She let him believe that she was going to invade, that she was going to destroy the Earth. Not hard, he , as everyone, saw her as lunar, but now he realized that she saw herself as earthen. To her as everyone on Earth saw Luna as the source of trouble. _**So she destroyed it with its own power, all the time knowing that she wouldn't receive an ounce of gratitude. Man she must have really hated me to put this kind of guilt on my shoulders!**_

His sight lowered to the stone rail before him. Easily seen in the enhanced full moon light was a gun. He had relieved the gauss pistol from one of the guards, the guard was too afraid to ask and Kai wasn't in the mood to explain. He threw the bottle into the shadow of the trees and faintly heard the sound of breaking glass. Picking up the pistol, he brought it to his temple. It would be simply, easy, just squeeze the trigger and it would be over. _**I deserve this!**_ He thought. _**I failed her, she needed me and I failed her. I deserve to die, not her, ME! **_His finger tightened around the trigger and then...

"Kai stop!" Kai whirled so fast that he fell. Shaking off the effects from the fall he finally focused his eyes on two figures running for him. Before he could get up they were on him and pair of powerful hands tore the gun away. He screamed and fought back, struggling to break free and recover the weapon. He must have landed a blow because he heard a woman grunt and let go. She backed away and came into view, it was his wife, Empress Sun-Hi.

A little blood trickled down her lip where he had hit her. Between them stepped Kai's advisor, ever faithful Torin. In his hands was the gun.

"Give it back!" Kai howled and lunged for it. Torin avoided him by taking a couple steps backward and twisting to his left. Kai saw him toss the gun out into the garden, well out of reach. Kai fell on his face, humiliated, he had hoped that he could do this in private. He didn't know when he started to cry, but when he realized it he was heaving for breath.

"Your Majesty, you need to calm down." Torin said as he approached slowly.

"Why?!" Kai retorted. "She's gone! I killed her! Everything I've done all these years killed her. I should have been me!" He sat up with his back to the stone rail and buried his face in his hands.

"It will be alright, you just need time..." Torin tried to console the emperor but wouldn't have it.

"Time!" He let his hands fall away. "Time won't fix what I have done! And now those women are... are rulers of the moon! In what kind of world do those people get to rule when people like Cinder die!"

"An imperfect world your Majesty, the only one we ever had." Torin responded. "There is nothing to be done about the Linh family, their claim to the throne of Luna is beyond dispute. We've check and rechecked. But killing yourself will not do any good, not when there is hope. The Linh's are completely incapable of governing, they have no training, no experience. They have no population, their world will be inaccessible for years, and the mother, Adri, has been hospitalized do to a nervous breakdown. If there ever was a time to influence the future of Luna now would be it Kai, you have some much to live for!"

"Don't speak to me of politics! I have had enough! Every decision I have made has been the wrong one. Because of my policies an entire race is dead, and so is she! I am not good enough to emperor. I deserve to die, just let me die!" Kai curled up into a ball and cried.

"Torin," The empress called her husband's advisor to her side. "Leave him to me. I'll handed this Toran."

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, Emperor Kai is not himself right now I don't think it wise for you two to be alone."

"I can take care of myself. Besides when the Emperor doesn't wish to discuss politics, he can dismiss his advisor. But a husband cannot dismiss his wife just because he wishes to avoid family matters. That is what this is now, a family matter." She gestured to the door. "Please Torin." Torin lingered for a moment, his sense of duty as a friend conflicting with his duty as a servant.

Once he passed through the door the Empress turned to her husband, still crying on the floor. She walk slowly and gently over to him, taking a seat beside him. Gently she tugged him into her arms, his head in her bosom. He made only token resistance, too tired to fight anymore. She kissed his head and spoke softly, warmly.

"Cry Kai, mourn. It's okay, I'm right here." And did, he no longer cared if anyone saw him. He didn't know how long he cried, if slept or not, but he knew his wife was all the time. When he had exhausted himself and relaxed she spoke again.

"Kai I... I owe you an apology." Kai was caught off guard. He was stumped why she would need to apologize when it was him that just tried to commit suicide. "You know that there had been another man before. Someone I loved very much."

"Yes," Kai answered, vaguely remembering her history through his alcohol hazed brain. There had been a boyfriend or something along those lines but he died years before Kai and Sun-Hi had met.

"I haven't been faithful to you in my heart, Kai. After my mourning period for Hyo and we started to court and I became comfortable with you, I thought only of him. Even at our wedding, I imagined him as the man there, not you. Everything you did I compared it to him and how would have done it. When we were in bed, I imagined it was him instead of you that I was well you know." She sighed and Kai's memory cleared a little bit.

"I know what you're going through, I may not quite understand it, but I do know. Before Hyo died, we had argument, something silly though I don't remember what, but we didn't speak to each other for a week. When he died, the night the lunar soldiers attacked, he was trying to make his way to my home and was caught in the massacre." She swallowed hard.

"Afterwards I thought: if I had not insisted that I was right and refused to talk to him, I was sure we would have been together that night and he would not have gone looking for me. He would be alive. But I did, and because of it I couldn't let it go, let him go. I'm sorry that I let him come between us, even if you didn't know it. I promised myself to you only, I've failed as a wife and I am sorry for it." Kai tried to say something but Sun-Hi hushed him with her finger on his lips.

"Shhh, Kai. Let me finish." She spoke softly. "Being unfaithful to you in my heart was bad enough, but not the worst thing I have done. You see, I'm a hypocrite. I could tell you had someone else in your life, another woman who had your attention. I was angry and jealous, that although you were married to me, she had your heart, even if I was committing the same sin. I tried to separate you two, tried to exorcise her from your heart, but instead I feared that I only helped to alienate her.

"You see Kai, you aren't the only one responsible for Cinder's death. I was there, always whispering in your ear, trying to make you forget her, or rather indifferent to her. I was always advising you and asking Toran to advise you avoid her. I was afraid that if you saw her again that you might leave me too.

"I should have known better. I should have confronted you about it, I should have confronted her. I know now that you wouldn't have left me so easily. Perhaps we could have been friends, Cinder and I, if I had dared to be the bigger woman and set aside my petty jealousy. I should have been sensitive her loneliness as well as ours, but like with Hyo, I failed and I will have to live with the consequences."

Silence sank in, heavy with emotion. Kai mind was stimulated by Sun-Hi's confessions that he shoved aside the fog in his mind. She was right, he had never paid attention before, but now he could see that she had been a voice against Cinder. Always, but gently, deflecting his attentions, promoting the feeling that he neither could nor approach her. It made him angry, but looking at his wife, he could see she still wasn't finished.

"Kai I know you failed Cinder, we both have, but she is gone. Nothing we can do will bring her back. Our debt to her will always remain unpaid, but if we take our lives we will ignore another debt. Our children Kai, they need us. Would you deprive our son of his father or your daughter, before they get to know you? Do you think that because you failed before you can shirk that responsibility?

"Please, don't let this tragedy consume you when others still need you!" Her words softened his ire and Kai remained still.

"But what if I fail again? I don't know if I could take it." He mumbled.

"We've been depending too much on ourselves and not each other, no more secrets and shadow feelings. We need to reconnect Kai, if that means retiring from public life for a time, then so be it. I offer myself completely to you, no more phantoms. I ask you to do the same, if not for us then for our children. I have no doubt that we will fail at one time or another, but they need us, will we abandon them like we did to our first loves?"

"No." Kai said firmly. "I promise Sun-Hi, that I will commit myself to you, if only for the children." She smiled and kissed him in a way she never had quite before. She began to hoist him up.

"Come husband, it s unwise to sleep on the floor. You'll need a good sleep on the mattress if you hope to live through your hangover tomorrow." The stumbled to the bed, Kai leaning on Sun-Hi. She helped him undress and laid the covers over him. As sleep finally began to close in, it faltered at Sun-Hi's next statement.

"Kai, you let me name our son, but were gracious enough not to insist on a name for our daughter. When you feel better tomorrow I want to talk about changing Pei's name."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Daybreak**

(Five Years Later)

The sun was shining, breaking over the horizon. New Beijing was stunning in the early morning, but Kai gave it no thought. Today was a very special day. Today he began to set things right.

His valets helped him dress in an ornate but modest suit. He liked it, with the fine colors of blue, red, and white in dragon and lotus designs, he looked like the emperor he was yet not too fancy as to suggest he was more than a man. He entered Sun-Hi chambers just before she finished her adornments. Dressed a feminine version of his own suit, she was quite becoming with her hair arraigned so. She turned and smiled has he approached.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Stunning as always." He replied. They kissed and left the room together. Through the corridors they walked hand in hand to the apartments of the prince and princess. Once they arrived they separated into the children's rooms, Sun-Hi to the princess and Kai to the prince.

His son's valets were just finishing up as well. Not surprising, his son always had difficultly rising early on days he had duties to perform. The boy would rather be out playing with his friends, and on those days he got up frighteningly early. However the look in the boys eyes now was alert and because today was a special day, Kai would forgo his usual lecture.

"Hyo, good morning." His son turned to face his father as the valets bowed and retreated to the walls. "Are you ready?"

"Good morning father." His son bowed. "I am ready." Kai walked about his son, taking in the workmanship of the boy's clothes and the they were put on. His son was a fit boy of eight, growing fast and more active than he ever was, even though they shared a strong resemblance. Kai focused on the attire. This was not his forte, the valets trained for years, but he was impressed and knew the valets liked to hear it.

"Well done, Anthan, Li." He nodded to them. They both smiled and bowed in response. Kai gesture to the doors and as they walked, Kai put his arm on Hyo shoulders and pulled him close. Exiting the room, they waited for the women. Just as they were getting bored, Sun-Hi and their daughter stepped out. Dressed in an outfit that matched the rest of the family, Kai's daughter looked like her mother in miniature.

"Cinder," Kai bent lower to look his daughter in the eye. "You look beautiful!" His daughter gave him a big grin.

"Thank you daddy." Kai pulled her in and hugged her. Sun-Hi walked over to Hyo, complemented him on his outfit and hugged him. They straightened and left the residential wing of the palace with the children in tow and headed to the hover parking garage. Their hover was waiting for them with Toran.

Ever venerable Torin was getting old, his hair was nearly all grey, but he still stood by Kai. Today would be no different even if Torin didn't have many left. Two lines of staff stood at attention as the royal family entered into their hover and took off. The flight was filled with pleasant conversation and jokes. Even the kids joined in while they traveled to the outskirts of the New Beijing Spaceport.

There was a massive shape towering up from the earthen mound, covered with lengths of canvas. Down below, there was a crowd gathered.

"I'm afraid they aren't all here for the dedication your Majesties." Torin stated somberly. "Your decision has raised more opposition than expected."

"It will be all right Torin." Kai answered. "We have a good feeling about this. The people just need some time to get use to it."

"Yes your Majesty." Torin nodded. As they descended, Kai could seen that the crowd was not one but two. The people of the outer, larger crowd were carrying signs and chanting, though through the soundproofing of the hover he couldn't hear what they were saying. When the hover passed over the crowd, many of the hostile crowd started to jeer and throw whatever they had handy. Cinder gazed at them, wide eyed.

"Daddy, why are those people mad?" She asked. Sun-Hi and Kai looked at each other, both wondering how to explain it to her.

"They're mad at dad," Hyo responded before his parents. "For building some statue to an _evil lunar queen._" He added a spooky tone the last part.

"A real evil lunar queen!" Cinder quickly squeaked. "Like in the Fairy Tale book nana reads to me before bed?" Sun-Hi shot Hyo a withering look then turned to her daughter.

"Daddy didn't build a statue to a evil queen Cinder." Sun-Hi clarified. "_We_ built a statue to a friend who... left us a long time ago. A friend we hurt very much."

"Is she going to be there?" Cinder asked. "Will I get to meet her?"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to meet her, Cinder." Kai answered. "But I think she'll be there, in a way."

"Why did she leave?" She asked.

"I... gave her the idea that she had a hard job to do. A job that would take her and her people far away. It's hard to explain, Cinder, but I promise to tell you the whole story when you're a little older." Cinder pouted.

"I never get older!" She wailed, quietly as a princess should. Kai and Sun-Hi chuckled.

"Don't worry my dove," Sun-Hi held her daughter close. "You will get older, and it will come when you least expect it."

The hover landed in the secured parking lot near the small, outdoor auditorium at the foot of the covered statue. Though they were outside the hover now, the police kept the protesters at sufficient distance that Kai still couldn't quite make out what they were saying, though he was sure he couldn't avoid it for long. It didn't matter, today would remain untarnished if he had any say.

Entering the auditorium, Kai saw a lot of guests, but only a few he intended to greet and speak with. First he spotted the flame red hair of Scarlet and her husband Wolf surround by could only be their extensive brood. Seven children of varying ages and shades of red hair, sat in seats near the front, though not without fidgeting. As Kai approached, Wolf spotted him.

"Emperor Kai," He sounded both boldly fierce and boyishly nervous. "She will not speak with you. I'm sure you understand." Kai did, of all Cinder's companion's in her flight, Scarlet, and by extension Wolf, held the biggest grudge. It appeared that she still hadn't forgiven him. Oh well, time may heal all wounds, but some wounds last a lot longer. He looked closely at Scarlet and noticed the bulge in her dress. He winked at Wolf.

"Number eight? I heard but couldn't believe it until know." Kai teased good naturedly. "You sure you have room on that tiny farm?" Wolf couldn't help but return Kai grin.

"It is not a small farm and yes we have plenty of room." The chuckled and Kai bade him farewell and best regards to Scarlet and their new little one.

Next Kai spied the long golden locks of a woman he had come to know as Crescent Moon, once the girl that allowed Levana near free reign on Earth. The daughter of the late Dr. Erland. He approached and this time he wasn't headed off by the woman's husband. No Captain Thorne was engaging another in conversation, probably boasting of recent accomplishments.

"Mrs. Thorne, it's good to see you." Kai said. Mrs. Thorne gave him a welcoming but sad smile. She gave him a curtsy and shook his hand.

"It is good to see you as well, Emperor Kai." Mrs. Thorne looked about. "Where is your wife?"

"Mixing with the guests I believe." Kai replied. It was his turn to look about. "Your boy got from out of your sight again?" Mrs. Thorne sighed.

"Yes, I was about to ask my husband to go look for him..." Kai waved her off.

"No need, I've got dozens of secret service 'nannies' covering every inch. He won't have an opportunity to cause too much trouble. I just hope he doesn't fall in with my son, those too would become a force of nature." Mrs. Thorne laughed at his jest.

"Yes, they would be," She agreed. "Especially if they took up with Scarlet and Wolf's boys as well. A force of nature multiplied!"

"And how is life on the Earth, Mars, Ceres route?" Kai asked.

"Oh good. Not exactly exciting, but it keeps Carswell and I occupied." She answered. Before things got too jovial, Kai took the conversation in another direction.

"Mrs. Thorne, I liked to thank you for giving me the chance to pay my respects to your father." Kai said. "I can't really apologize to some people, so the ones that give me a chance really makes me feel that I am not a total loss."

"You shouldn't take too much of what Scarlet says, she a French red-hair after all." Mrs. Thorne expression took on an impish look. "Papa was very happy that you managed to make it, he really was proud of what you have done with all the opposition."

"Thanks, but I wasn't only talking about Scarlet." He nodded his head to the statue. Mrs. Thorne understood what he meant.

"Yeah, well you've done what you can. That's what matters." They bade farewell and separated. Kai then saw the last group he wanted to talk to.

"Queen Adri." He said a little awkwardly, is was still strange hearing that. "I am glad you could come." Queen Adri and her daughter, Princess Pearl, both turned and gracefully curtsied to Kai. He responded with a bow.

"Thank you Emperor Kai, we wouldn't dare miss this." Queen Adri replied. She had changed over the last few years, become older, in a way, beyond her years. He supposed it was due to the realization of what she had done to her stepdaughter all those years ago. She was no longer the malicious and bitter gold digger he had known her to be, but a humbled and generous person. Her daughter too, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree, but that could change, she was still fair young. Nearby was an android, but not just any android.

"Administrator Iko, good to see you." Kai held out his hand to the curtsying figure. The mind was the same, but the body had been upgraded to a brand new Escort6.7 office variant. The human simulacrum appearance gave her strong human features but not enough to fool anyone, still it suited her well.

"Emperor Kai," The android answered. "It is good to see you too. This is a very special day, but not as special when the Lunar monument is complete in 3.3 months. I have so many plans for the celebrations. I have been running them by Queen Adri and Princess Pearl, they have been helping me to narrow them down but I want your opinion as well, and that of Empress Sun-Hi of course."

"Yes, yes. I'm sure will discuss it after the ceremony." Kai deflected her desire to begin running through all the possibilities. Iko had made a fine cybernetic administrator for the new Lunar nation, helping to select and aid Queen Adri rule the thousands of volunteer colonists. However, she sometimes had the tendency to ramble, good thing there were other administrators to balance her out. "Why don't you go find Empress Sun-Hi and run a few of those ideas by her?"

"Why thank you your Majesty!" Iko chirped. "I think I will." She walked off in what could only be described as a mincing march. Pearl giggled as she saw Iko leave.

"That was unusually sadistic of you Emperor." She mocked. "I have no doubt that Sun-Hi will get her revenge."

"That she will, but not today." Kai replied. "Are you two ready for this?" The women looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

"We're ready, Emperor." Adri affirmed. "This honor is long overdue." With that the audience assembled into their seats and the ceremony began. Everyone that had known Cinder personally had a chance to speak, some didn't but most did. Kai chose to be last.

"Hello everyone, friends and family. We are here to commemorate this monument to an extraordinary person despite appearances to the contrary. When I first met Cinder, she was a renowned mechanic, but other than that she appeared very average. Her life, working to eat, seemed so simple to my own. Little did I know that her life was as complex as mine, even if she didn't know it.

"As you all know, I had many problems, young and unprepared, facing off against the worst tyrant in a century. I was looking for an easy way out, a simple cure for all my troubles. When I found that solution, I didn't recognized it. There were so many signs that she was the one, but I ignored them because they weren't convenient. She was just one more weight on my back and I wanted her off.

"It didn't occur to me that the key to my problems would come with a weight of her own. I didn't have faith to trust in a friend and so I pursued and persecuted her until my error was apparent to everyone. Now I realize that even the simple solutions have complications and sometimes you can't just cut them out, you have deal with them as they come. However, in my pride I avoided my problems, my feelings, and in so doing laid the ground work for the greatest single disaster to befall mankind this age.

"Cutoff from any support and surrounded by hostile and scheming 'allies' on one side and duty on the other, Cinder was stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. If she escaped she would be on the run for the rest of her life, while another seized the throne and renewed the war against the only home she known. If she stayed she would succumb to the very thirst for power she had fought against. I paraphrase from an American President from the early second age. Her life was like holding a wolf by its ears, she didn't like it but she didn't dare let go.

"Since she couldn't let go nor hold on indefinitely, she took the only option she felt available to her. She would maneuver her wolf to the edge of a cliff and cast them both down." Kai choked as the emotion in his rose. He took a moment of silence to compose himself, then continued. "Excuse me, this is still hard for me to talk about."

"Many people since that fateful day have denounced Cinder as a mass murderer, callously sacrificing her entire nation for a moment of glory without care of what happened to us. I however knew her to be a kind and generous person who was also conscious of her own needs and limitations. If she felt she had no alternative other than blowing up every lunar, then the fault lies not with her but us.

"We limited her options. To make ourselves feel safer we sacrificed her safety. We separated her from trusted friends and hedged up her surroundings with potential enemies. How can we be surprised that she found only one way out that best benefitted us and took it? How many of us would have had the strength to face self doom the way she did, all without ever expecting gratitude?

"I have no doubt that these factors will be ignored by many people for centuries to come. They, biased against lunars and cyborgs, will surely treat Cinder as I did, with fear and contempt. Such is the freedoms Cinder granted them in her final act. But for ME and MY FAMILY, we will take inspiration from her life and see her for who she truly was. A _better human_ than us all."

Kai stepped from the podium and gestured to Cinder's friends and family. They all ascended the stage and gathered at the back. There they faced four spaced, vertical slots with a red cord exposed in each. Beneath each slot on a small table were scissors. Each group selected one to pick up their pair of scissors. Scarlet, Cress, Adri, and Kai stepped forward and as one cut their cords.

With a snap the ends of the cords disappeared and started a chain reaction. The cables the cords secured fell, taking the coverings with them. The statue that emerged was everything that Kai hoped it would be, beautiful. Standing at over 100 meters high, made of pure lunar titanium, and covered in lunar diamonds, it would dominate the attention of any ship that came into port. Welcoming them to Earth.

It was Cinder, of course, dressed in a dress similar to but far more modest than the one she had attended the ball in. The outfit exposed her cybernetic foot and hand, but crafted in a way that made them works of art, graceful lines. Attached to each was a broken chain, symbolizing the freedom only death granted her. Her hair, bound in her classic ponytail led to her smiling face. In each hand she held a sphere, one larger than the other. The small sphere, Luna, was held on an arm extended. The larger sphere, Earth, she held close to her bosom and upon it she gazed.

They were working on another one, this time on the moon near the new capital city. It was almost exactly the same except that there, it was Luna that Cinder held close, smiling. That was because they believed that Cinder would have approved of the society that they were trying to build and even in death they hoped she would smile upon its future. But for Kai, the Earth twin would reflect the true Cinder, for her home had always been Earth.

_**Review Please!**_


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